Summer Romance
by Black Knight 03
Summary: In San Francisco together, Kate and Gordo reestablish their old friendship. As it develops into something more, will what happens in San Francisco, stay in San Francisco? [KG]
1. Cracking The Mask

While I enjoy writing M/Gs, I needed a change of pace and I wanted to do a different couple. I've been wanting to do a K/G for awhile now and it seemed like the perfect time. I do have more M/Gs, and some other pairings, that I'm working on and they'll be posted when they're ready.

Disclaimer - Disney owns Lizzie McGuire. Everything else is mine.

A/N – "_Thoughts" _, Gordo is 17 and Kate is 18 , The first part of this is set during the summer between their junior and senior years

Chapter 1 - Cracking The Mask

Gordo walked out of the Bay View Hotel and slowly made his way down the street. He had been in San Francisco for about a week and was already bored.

His mother had taken an adjunct teaching position at the University of San Francisco for both summer sessions. (A/N - An adjunct is a college teacher who does not have a PhD. Usually they're a professional in the field they're teaching.)

Even though his father had to stay behind in Hill Ridge to tend to his psychology practice, both of his parents had decided that instead of just hanging around the house all summer or working, it would be a good experience for him to go with his mother to San Francisco. It cemented his fate even more, when Miranda and Lizzie were hired as counselors at Camp Meadowlark. A summer camp for elementary age children. The girls would be gone all summer. In theory, it had been a good idea. But after the first few days, Gordo quickly grew bored having no one to hang out with.

He looked both ways and quickly crossed the street. Across the street, where he was heading, was a small convenience store. Gordo was going to grab some junk food and then head to Golden Gate Park.

Kate walked through the isles of the same convenience store, looking for junk food as well. Letting out a tired sigh, she looked through the various types of chips they had on the rack.

Kate had been literally shipped off for the summer to her father and stepfamily who lived in San Francisco. After divorcing when Kate was eleven, Mr. Sanders left Kate with her mother and moved to San Francisco. Then three years ago, he married a wealthy socialite, Annie Ross. They currently had a two year old daughter, Kate's stepsister, Julie Sanders.

During any break in the school year, when Mrs. Sanders didn't want to be bothered by her daughter, she would ship her off to San Francisco. While Mr. Sanders did care about his eldest daughter, he rarely showed it. It didn't help that Annie saw her as the bastard child from her husband's first marriage. She also made sure that Julie was spoiled with everything she wanted, even if it came at Kate's expense.

This afternoon, Kate had left her step-family's penthouse early, before anyone else was up. After just a week, Kate was already bouncing off the walls. At least at home, where her mother could care less about her, she was left alone and could do what she wanted. But here, she was supposed to be at the every whim of her stepmother and stepsister.

As she walked down the aisle browsing the chips, Kate suddenly walked into someone. Turning to the person, she was about to say sorry, when she realized who she was looking at. After regaining his balance, Gordo looked at who walked into him. "Oh god," he mumbled under his breath. "Kate."

Kate really wasn't sure why, but the pent-up anger just came out. "Watch where you're going you dork," she snapped at him.

Gordo recoiled a little bit but then Kate watched as anger flashed in his eyes. "You walked into me," he growled and then walked away. As he did, Kate could hear him mumble, "Stupid bitch."

Kate looked back at the chips and was suddenly hit with guilt. She didn't know why but she regretted snapping at her ex-friend. It was getting harder to remember why she stopped being friends with three of them.

As Kate went to take a step to walk out of the store, everything started spin and she started to stumble. Then suddenly her legs gave out. Stiffening, expecting to hit the floor hard, she was surprised to feel a pair of arms wrap around her waist and hold her in mid-air.

"Kate?" Looking up over her shoulder, she saw it was Gordo who had caught her. "You ok?" he asked and Kate was surprised by the actually sound of concern in his voice.

Sighing, she tried to steady herself on her wobbling legs. "Think so." Gordo kept an arm around her waist in case her legs gave way again. As she closed her eyes, to try to get the room to stop spinning, Kate's stomach rumbled. "Kate, when was the last time you ate anything?"

"I had an apple on my way out this morning," she answered still her eyes were closed. "It was like seven or somethin."

She heard Gordo sigh behind her. "You collapsed because you haven't eaten anything in like seven hours." Gordo let go of her as she appeared to steady herself. As Gordo watched her, "_I can't believe I'm actually going to be nice to Kate."_ Taking a deep breath, "Why don't you let me take you out to get something to eat."

Kate tuned slightly and looked at him in a mix of surprise and curiosity. "I..." she didn't know what to answer. "_What the hell Kate. Not like you have anything else to do."_ "Ok," she said softly, a little unsure of herself.

They walked outside in silence and back to Gordo's hotel; on the main floor of hotel was a restaurant. About a half an hour later, they were sitting at a table in the restaurant. Gordo watched in amusement as Kate was tearing into a double cheeseburger and french fries.

In between bites, Kate looked up and saw Gordo watching her. "What?" she said with a mouthful of french fries.

Gordo laughed and shook his head. "I just never thought I see the Princess wolfing down a double cheeseburger, much less at mach two."

Kate blushed a little but laughed too. "I'm hungry," she said shrugging.

After taking a bite out of his grilled cheese sandwich, "Why are you in San Francisco?"

Sighing, she put down her cheeseburger. "I'm spending the summer with my father."

Gordo nodded; aside from the exact details, he understood what she was talking about. He knew that Kate and her mother didn't get along and that she often got shipped to her father's.

"What about you?" Kate asked him, trying to change the subject.

"My mother's teaching at USF this summer and with Liz and Rand gone for the summer, my parents figured I should come here too. Actually, I've been bored out of my mind."

Kate looked at him shyly. "If you're bored. Then, maybe, you'd like to do something? With me?"

Gordo looked at her for a moment, not sure if she was serious or not. "Alright."

"How about we take that trip to Golden Gate Park like you were talking about," Kate said trying to hide the over eagerness in her voice.

Not exactly sure what was happening, Gordo had this gut feeling that he was dealing with a different Kate. Not the spoiled snob he usually dealt with in school, but it was like the old Kate had suddenly emerged after a five-year absence. "_What the hell."_ Still a little wary, "Sure. We can go when we're finished."


	2. The Wharf

I3itterSweet – I'll bring pairing diversity into this section even if I have to do it myself, lol. M/G is still my favorite but K/G is a close second.

D.Torres – About continuing Wake Me Up, I'll give it some thought. I'm not against the idea but I'm just not sure where I'd go with it.

Abuhin, catchastar – Thanks for the reviews.

A/N – "_Thoughts"_

Chapter 2 - The Wharf

Gordo walked a few steps behind Kate as they walked along Fisherman's Wharf. As he looked around, Gordo tried to figure out how exactly he ended up here, with her.

After the park, Gordo had taken Kate back to her father's apartment building. They had been standing in front of the building, trying to make small talk but failing miserably. Suddenly, Kate asked him if he wanted to hang out again. Maybe it was the way her voice sounded but Gordo found it hard to say no. So here he was walking around Fisherman's Wharf with Kate. Even though he'd never admit it out loud, hanging out with Kate wasn't as bad as he imagined.

Snapping out of his thoughts, he watched Kate walk over to a nearby bench and sit down. "Finally," he joked as he sat down next to her.

Kate just rolled her eyes and looked out at the water. "This is nice," she said after a few minutes of silence.

"Yea, its an incredible view. You should be able to see Alcatraz."

Snickering softly, Kate looked over at Gordo, "I wasn't talking about the view." When Gordo gave her a questioning look, she explained. "Its nice just hanging out together and not have to deal with the High School crap."

Gordo grinned slightly and shook his head in agreement. "Can I ask you something?" Kate nodded yes and Gordo asked, "Why are we hanging out? I mean, the last time we saw each other, you were bitching about me being in your way."

Kate frowned a little. "Sorry about that." She turned on the bench, so her upper body was facing him. "Its just, when I'm with you now, here, I don't have to put on an act or keep looking over my shoulder. I can just be myself and not have to worry about how I look. That make any sense?"

"Yea, it did," Gordo told her with a small nod.

Kate looked out at the water for moment and then back to Gordo. "Have you ever done something that at the time, thought it was the right thing but later you start to regret it?"

"Sure. Everyone regrets something. Why, what did you do?"

Kate let out a sad sigh and told him, "The summer from hell."

"The what?" Gordo asked confused.

"Its what I call the summer before 6th grade. My parents finally divorced, my Dad took off and my Mom didn't want to deal with anything, so she sent me off to Cheerleading Camp. Camp was fun, I guess."

"You guess?"

Kate shrugged and ran a hand through her long blonde hair. "Becoming popular was fun, for awhile at least. At first, everything is so new and exciting, everyone wants to be your friend and the parties are incredible but everything gets old after awhile. You're constantly looking over your shoulder, suspicious of everyone, wondering who could stab you in your back. It wears on you after awhile."

Gordo reached out and gently squeezed her shoulder. "You still haven't told me what you regret."

Reaching up, Kate put her hand over Gordo's, "I regret that when I needed them the most, I pushed away the only people that really cared about me. My real friends."

"If you feel like that, then why don't you give it up?"

"Because it's hard to," she said in a soft almost whining voice, "It's like an addiction. When you don't have it, you want it and when you do, you want more. If you ever try and give it up, the pull of it is intense. I'm not strong enough." Kate hung her head and turned back forward. After sitting there for a bit, Kate got a little embarrassed and took her hand off of Gordo's.

Gordo slowly pulled back his own hand. "So you wanna do something this weekend?"

Kate looked over at him, surprised. "You mean you wanna hang out again?" her voice rising a little in excitement.

Snickering, Gordo grinned. "When you take off your mask and you let yourself be you, you're fun to be with. Kinda makes me miss our old friendship."

"I miss it too," Kate said softly.

"Then lets do something about it," Gordo said standing up. Reaching out, he grabbed Kate's hand and pulled her to her feet.

"Gordo?" she shouted as she landed on her feet.

"We forget about the past and just hangout this summer as friends," Gordo told her as he stood in front of her.

"What? We can't just forget the past."

Gordo smirked, "Why not?"

"I…I…" Kate tried to come up with a reason but couldn't think of anything. "You sure?" she asked a little tentatively, not really trusting her luck. Was she really getting a chance to start over with one of her oldest friends.

"Yea. Let's face it both our summers were looking pretty crappy until we bumped into each other. I'm willing to forget if you are?"

Kate smiled, "Yea, I am." She hugged Gordo, "Thanks."

"Well now that we're done with the Hallmark moment," Gordo joked and Kate laughed. "How about we get lunch and then head over to Alcatraz."

"Sure, except this time I pick the place," Kate said leading them down the wharf again.

"Pick what? Everything is seafood."

"If you don't stop whining, I'm gonna make you eat sushi," Kate threatened with a smirk as she glanced over her shoulder at him.

Gordo pretending to grimace but couldn't hide his own grin. "You wouldn't dare."

"Try me," she deadpanned.

Gordo snickered and shook his head as he followed her. The summer was starting to look better.


	3. Gifts And Insight

A/N - "_Thoughts"_

Chapter 3 – Gifts And Insight

Kate and Gordo walked around San Francisco's Chinatown visiting the various shops. After a few hours of shopping, Gordo followed Kate out of one of the shops and as he adjusted Kate's bags that he was carrying, "How much longer are we gonna be shopping?"

Kate stopped on the sidewalk and took a few of the bags he had been carrying. "Quit your whining," she told him sarcastically with a small smile. "Besides you're dragging me to that baseball game tonight."

Gordo snickered and looked at her with a smirk, "I'm not dragging you anywhere. If you remember correctly it was your father who gave you the tickets and you asked me to go."

Turning and flipping her hair over her shoulder, "Whatever," Kate started walking towards another shop, "One more shop and then we can call it a day."

Gordo laughed softly as he started to follow her. "Yea, I've heard that before," he said sarcastically.

As they entered the shop, Gordo headed towards some of the displays in the back of the shop while Kate stayed near the counter.

Kate watched him for a moment and a small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. Slowly looking away, she spotted a display on the counter of necklace pendants in the shape of Chinese characters. Walking up to the counter, Kate started to go through the rack. She had wanted to get Gordo sort of a thank you gift for what he had done. They had been hanging out for about two weeks now, basically doing tourist stuff, and she was actually having fun with her old friend.

As Kate was shifting through the rack, an elderly Asian woman walked up to her. "Can I help you dear?"

Kate looked up, "Yea. I'm looking for a gift."

"A gift?" the woman repeated. She glanced over at Gordo, "For a boyfriend perhaps?"

Kate looked dumbfounded for a moment but then got what she was implying. "No. A friend. We're just friends."

"Perhaps," the woman said as she walked behind the counter. "But I've seen the way you look at him."

Kate blushed slightly. "I just wanted to buy a gift for my friend."

The old woman nodded with a knowing smile. "Perhaps this one," she said reaching to the display and taking one of the pendants. "It means friendship."

The old woman handed Kate the pendant. Looking at it in her hand, Kate smiled softly. "What's it made out of?"

"Sterling silver."

"Umm, how much?" Kate asked.

The woman reached under the counter and pulled out a small box, bag, and a matching necklace. "Thirty and I throw in the necklace."

Kate looked at her for a moment, "Isn't that kind of cheap?"

The woman just shrugged and gave her the same knowing smile. "Let's just say I have a soft spot for young lovers."

Kate's face went completely flushed. "We're…We're just friends."

The woman nodded but the smile remained. "Sometimes the best love starts as friendship."

Kate wasn't sure what to say, if anything. Paying for the gift, she hid it in one of the bags she was holding. "Thank you."

"You're welcome dear and don't hide your heart for too long."

Kate just nodded and watched the woman walk away. Shaking her head, she headed towards the door.

"Kate."

Looking up, she watched Gordo walk up to her. "You done?"

"Yea. You buy anything?" Gordo asked her.

As they walked outside, "Just a little trinket," Kate told him.

The night, Kate and Gordo sat in box seats along the first base line at Pac Bell Park. A client of Mr. Sanders had given him the tickets but since Amy didn't want to go, he gave the tickets to Kate.

Kate wasn't really into sports but one, it was something for them to do and two, it got her out of the house.

As Gordo watched the game, he glanced at Kate out of the corner of his eye. He knew she didn't really understand everything but he tried his best to explain it to her. He watched Kate tug at the baseball hat he bought her. Originally it was meant as a joke but it made him sort of happy that she continued to wear it during the game.

Kate watched as the batter hit the ball to the second baseman and he just stepped on the bag. As the fielders ran off the field, Kate turned to Gordo.

Gordo looked over and noticed her questioning glance. "When there is a runner who is forced to run to the next base, all the fielder has to do is step on the base."

Kate bit her lip as she replayed what Gordo said. "A force out?" she asked a little shyly.

Grinning at her, "Yea." Putting an arm around her, he gave her a quick hug. "You're getting it."

"Th…Thanks." Kate mumbled as she felt her head spinning.

As Gordo looked back at the field, Kate continued to look at him. "_Me and Gordo?"_ she thought to herself. "_We're barely friends again and I'm thinking about being more? Am I crazy or just stupid? Ruin a perfectly good friendship that I just got back for a stupid summer romance. Besides there's no way a guy like Gordo would seriously go out with me."_

Kate let out a sigh and turned back to the game, "_Just when I thought things were looking up, my wonderful life bitch slaps me back into reality."_


	4. Second Chances

D.Torres – I like the idea for both perspectives but I don't think it'd work for this story and I would've had to have been doing it from the beginning. I want to keep a lot of the story focused on Kate to show her changing, with her evolving feelings for Gordo being the catalyst for the change. I tried using both perspectives in first person once and it didn't come out good (at least by my standards). I may try it again from third person and see what happens, maybe try it with a one-shot. As for the sequel to Wake Me Up, I reread it and noticed that I really didn't hook Kate and Gordo up at the end but more set it up so they could and implied that they would. I'm thinking of doing another one-shot and it'll basically be Kate and Gordo getting together. Beyond that, the plot is still in the works.

Tanguay18, I3itterSweet, catchastar – Thanks for the reviews. I wasn't sure how well a multi-chapter K/G would be received but I'm glad that people are liking this.

A/N – "_Thoughts"_

Chapter 4 – Second Chances

It was 4th of July and the city was going to shoot fireworks over the Bay and Kate and Gordo had dragged two lawn chairs up to the roof of the apartment building to watch them.

As Gordo sat in one of the chairs, he watched Kate. She was leaning against the rooftop's railing, just looking out at the city. As he watched her, a small, goofy grin formed on his face. He had always thought Kate was very attractive but with the way she had been changing over the past month, he was finding himself becoming even more attracted to her. He'd never say that though, Gordo knew that the thing Kate needed the most was a friend.

"Gordo," Kate's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Uh?" Gordo snapped out of his daze and for a moment just stared at Kate. She was wearing a tight, dark purple, belly shirt with a pair of low ride jeans and white sneakers.

"Gordo," Kate called again glancing over her shoulder. She grinned for a second when she realized why Gordo was spacing out.

Closing his eyes for a second, Gordo shook his head trying to get his mind out of the gutter. "What?"

"I talked to Claire today," Kate told him as she turned around and leaned back against the railing. "She told me Gretchen is trying to get the girls to kick me off the squad."

Near the middle of sophomore year, Gretchen Taylor transferred to Hill Ridge from Miami. From the second she arrived, Kate and her were rivals in everything. It didn't help matters that they had just been named co-captains of the cheerleading squad. Gretchen knew that Kate was being forced to visit her Dad for the summer and had arranged for the squad to go to a cheerleading camp for the summer.

"You think Barbie can pull it off?" Gordo asked.

Kate shrugged, "Claire, Brooke, and Alix have my back but that's like 3 of 20." Kate grabbed her hair, pulled it back into a ponytail, and just let it fall over her shoulders. "Barbie?" Kate asked Gordo with a smirk.

Gordo snickered. "Miranda's nickname. Miranda would love to smack around her little pampered ass. When she came up with the nickname, Rand reasoned that nobody could look like that naturally." Both Kate and Gordo started laughing a little.

"It's true. There's no way those breasts are real," Kate said sarcastically.

Gordo grinned a little, "I'd be more than happy to check if they are."

Kate looked at him for a moment, not sure how to react. Then suddenly she started laughing. "So much for the enlightened Gordo," she teased.

"Hey, I may be more mature than my counterparts but I'm still a guy."

Kate stopped laughing and slowly let out a breath. Gordo titled his head and studied her. "There's something else bothering you."

Shrugging, Kate slowly walked towards him. "I also talked to Amy." Wiping a hand over her face, she tried to take a steadying breath but failed. "My Mom is getting remarried." she said as her voice cracked softly.

"Kate?" Gordo asked softly as he sat up in the chair.

Tears where starting to form in her eyes. "She barely knows this guy. They've been dating for less than two months and now they're getting fucking married!" In frustration she furiously kicked her chair. As soon as her ankle hit the metal of the chair, she cried out in pain. Hopping on one foot, she bit her lip in an effort to not start crying.

Gordo watched Kate start to lose her balance and quickly wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her into his lap. Kate curled up against him and just started crying.

Gordo did the only thing he could think of and wrapped his arms around her in a hug. After awhile, Kate slowly quieted down and snuggled closer to Gordo.

Kate slowly lifted her head up and rested it on his shoulder. She grinned slightly as she saw the pendant she had given him hanging around his neck. Reaching out, she gently started to finger the pendant.

As she sat in Gordo's arms, all of the pain and anger she had been feeling, slowly just faded away. Suddenly, she remembered the words the elderly woman told her, "_Sometimes the best love starts as friendship." _

Looking up, Kate stared into Gordo's eyes and Gordo felt a chill as he felt Kate's eyes boring into his.

"_But I've seen the way you look at him."_ A smile started to form as more of what the woman said, started to make sense to her. "_Don't hide your heart for too long."_

"Gordo?"

"Hmm?"

Kate took a deep breath; she had never been so scared to just ask a simple question as she was right now. "What do you think of second chances?"

"What do you mean?" Gordo asked a little confused.

"Like a second chance to do something that a person missed out on the first time because she, I mean they, let it go by and didn't realize what it could be."

"I guess it'd be a good thing. Why?"

"Because I'm about to take a second chance," she told him. Before Gordo could say anything else, Kate slipped one arm around Gordo's chest and the other around his neck. Sitting up, she pressed her lips against his. Quickly recovering, Gordo slowly started to kiss her back.

After kissing for a few minutes, they broke apart and looked at each other.

"What was that?"

Kate giggled, "Its called making out."

Gordo tried to give her an irritated glare but couldn't hide his smile. "You know what I mean."

"I don't really know. I do know that you make me happy and I like being with you." Kate closed her eyes for a moment, trying to summon her courage, and slowly reopened them, "What if instead of a summer friendship, this was a summer romance?"

Gordo tried to process everything that happened; his mind was screaming no but everything else wanted to say yes. "Are you sure? I mean I don't want you to get more hurt."

Kate smiled softly at him, "I want this. You're the one bright spot in my other wise crappy life."

"Then yes." As soon as he gave her his answer, Kate quickly kissed him again.

Putting her head back on his shoulder, she tightened her arms around his chest. "So you going to ask me out or what?" she teased.

Gordo snickered. "Kate would you like to go out this weekend."

"Hmm. I'll have to check my schedule," she joked with a grin. When Gordo's hands gripped her ribs and he threatened to tickle her, she answered him. "Yes. I'll go out with you this weekend."

A few seconds later, the fireworks started going off overhead. Kate shifted into more of a sitting position and leaned against Gordo's chest. Letting out a content sigh, for the first time in a long time, she was really happy.


	5. First Date

A/N – _"Thoughts"_

Chapter 5 – First Date

Gordo nervously pulled at the collar of his dress shirt as he prepared to knock on the Sanders' front door. As he waited for the door to open, he tapped the stem of the rose he had bought for Kate against his leg.

It was the weekend after the Fourth and for the past few days all Gordo could think about was the kiss they shared and how it felt having her in his arms. Even aside from the attraction, he really was having fun hanging out with her.

_"She seems so much more relaxed and laid back than she is in school,"_ he thought as he let out a deep breath in an attempt to calm his nerves.

After a minute or two, the front door opened to reveal Mr. Sanders. Gordo had never felt so small before than under the man's gaze. While it may not appear like it, Mr. Sanders deeply cared for his eldest daughter, he just had an odd way of showing it.

"Hello Mr. Sanders. Is Kate ready?" Gordo asked trying his hardest to keep his voice normal.

"David," he answered in greeting. "She'll be ready in a few minutes. Come in," Mr. Sanders said as he stepped back and out of the way. Closing the door behind Gordo, he led them into the living room. Mr. Sanders knew David was a nice guy and wouldn't intentionally hurt Kate but it was every father's right to grill and make uncomfortable every guy their daughters brought home.

"So where are you two going?" Mr. Sanders asked as he sat down in his armchair.

Gordo remained standing, "We thought it'd be best to keep it simple, so we're going out to dinner."

Folding his arms across his chest, Mr. Sanders leaned back in his chair. "Where?"

"The Coliseum, it's a small Italian restaurant a few blocks away," Gordo answered. After a few more questions, both looked over as they heard Kate's bedroom door open.

As Kate walked out, she took in the situation in front of her. "Dad, you better not have been grilling him."

Mr. Sanders smirked, "I'm your father, it's my right."

Kate just rolled her eyes at his statement and turned her attention back to Gordo. She smiled as she looked him up and down. He was wearing a dark red dress shirt with dark tan khakis and brown dress shoes. _"Very nice."_

Slowly looking up at his eyes, her smile grew wider and she even blushed a little. While Gordo often kept his emotions well hidden, his eyes often gave them away. At the moment, they were slowly wondering all over Kate as if trying to memorize what she looked like. As Kate walked up to him and got a better view of them, she had a pretty good idea of what was going through his head.

Kate was wearing a light pink, spaghetti strap dress that fell to just above her knees and showed off her figure. She was also wearing a pair of light pink heeled sandals.

Kate had been debating whether or not to wear the heels because it would make her even taller than him; without them she was only a few inches taller but with them it made the height difference more visible. But as she took in Gordo's expression, she knew she made the right choice.

Gordo quickly blinked and choked on his words, which got him a stern glare from Mr. Sanders. Kate giggled softly; it was the second time in the past few days she had caught him just staring at her. Normally she'd be annoyed if a guy just ogled her like that but because it was Gordo, somehow it made her feel different, almost special.

"You look nice," Gordo quickly said trying to hide his embarrassment of a minute ago. "This is for you," he said handing her the rose.

"Thanks," she said as she took the flower and bringing it to her nose, inhaled the scent. With a small smile, "Ready?" she asked as she grabbed her nightbag and adjusted the strap on her shoulder. _"I can't believe I'm actually going out with David Gordon."_

"Yea," Gordo said trying to keep the goofy smile off his face.

Just as they were leaving, Annie walked out into living room. "You going out?" she coldly asked Kate as she walked into the living room.

"Yea," Kate answered back in a challenging way, her eyes following her stepmom.

"You better be back by ten," Annie ordered and the two woman shared an ice glare.

"Or wha," Kate started to snap back but Gordo cut her off.

"She will be," he said as he gently but firmly pushed Kate out the door.

As they were ridding down in the elevator, Kate turned to Gordo and was about to yell at him. Gordo caught the look and before she got a chance to tear his head off, he kissed her.

Breaking the kiss, Kate tried to yell at him again but nothing came out and after a few unsuccessful attempts just gave up. Crossing her arms over her chest, she let out a huff. As the elevator doors open, Gordo took Kate's hand and lead her out of the elevator and outside.

Gordo tried to explain what he did, "You gotta now what battles to fight. She's baiting you, she wants you to fight back. If you two got into an argument you could've gotten grounded and screwed this date up."

Kate just glared forward. Gordo grinned at her; gently cupping her face he made her look at him. "I know you hate her but sometimes you just gotta let things blow over."

Kate's face softened; she didn't like it but knew Gordo had probably saved her butt up there. Letting go of her, Gordo unlocked his car and they both got in.

A little while later, as they were sitting in the restaurant eating, Gordo looked up from his dinner and noticed Kate watching him with a small smile. "What?" he asked as he brought his napkin to his face.

"I was just remembering the look on your face when I walked into the living room." She watched in amusement as the tips of Gordo's ears started to get red. "It was almost as cute as you look now," she teased.

Gordo looked down at his plate, trying to hide the growing smile, and ran a hand through his hair. For the rest of the dinner, they talked and sometimes teased each other about stuff from their past, what they wished had happened, and what they wanted to happen. Both were surprised at how comfortable they were with each other.

After the date, as Gordo pulled up to the Sander's apartment building, they sat in the car for a few minutes talking.

Kate was quiet for a few moments, playing with her nightbag in her lap for a few. Suddenly, she asked, "Gordo, why are you going out with me? I mean you're like the perfect guy and I'm the royal bitch of Hill Ridge."

Gordo chuckled softly for a moment before taking Kate's hand. "I'm hardly perfect," he joked. Then he looked into her eyes and grew serious, "I like being with the real you. You've always been physically beautiful but when you drop the act and take off the mask, you let the real you out. The girl who use to be my friend and the girl who I'm really attracted to," as he told her this, he gently rubbed his thumb in a small circle on the top of her hand.

Kate smiled and leaned over the console and gave Gordo a small kiss. "Thanks. Night Gordo."

"Night Kat," he told her with a smile as she was starting to get out.

Pausing, Kate looked at him for a moment, "Kat?" She thought about it for a moment and then the smile returned, "I like it. Night."

Gordo watched as Kate got out of the car, walked up the steps, and eventually inside. As he pulled away, he wasn't sure where they were going but at the moment he didn't really care.


	6. The Beach

A/N – _"Thoughts"_

Chapter 6 – The Beach

As Gordo drove down the road, he couldn't stop himself from smiling. Who would believe that for the past three weeks he'd be dating the most popular and hottest girl in school. As he thought about, Gordo laughed to himself. _"Well it isn't exactly the same girl but this one is a lot better."_

Glancing at the passenger seat, he watched Kate for a few seconds as she stared out the window. His smile grew wider as he looked at what she was wearing.

For the past few days it had been incredible hot and so they had decided to head to the beach for the day. When Kate came out of the building and into his car, Gordo could feel his jaw just drop. Over her blue and white-striped bikini, she was wearing a black mesh shirt, a pair of short jean shorts, and flip-flops. Of course, Kate had teased him about his drooling.

Just as he turned his attention back forward, he heard Kate snickering. "Keep your mind on the road."

Gordo laughed out loud, "Bite me."

As they drove into the parking lot, Kate frowned slightly. Even though it was warm enough, the wind was intense and making the ocean rough. Getting out, Kate watched as the large surf pounded the beach.

Taking their stuff out of his trunk, he took her hand. "Come on. We can still hang out on the beach."

After staking out a spot and putting their stuff out, Kate pulled off the mesh shirt and shorts and sat down in front of Gordo. Holding the bottle of sunscreen over her shoulder, she used her other hand to pull her hair over her shoulder. "Gordo, could you?"

Getting no response, she glanced over her shoulder. She saw the far away look in Gordo's eyes as he just stared at her and his clenched jaw twitch slightly. Trying to hold in her laughter, Gordo quickly came back to life. Embarrassed, he quickly grabbed her around the waist and pulled her to him. "Come here."

Tightly pressed against him, Kate suddenly felt Gordo start to kiss her neck. "Hmm." When they had started the more physical part of their relationship, Gordo quickly found one of Kate's weak points. Everyone had a certain area of their body that if touch or kissed just right, was a major turn on, and in Kate's case, it was her neck.

After a few minutes, Gordo sat back a few inches and grabbed the sunscreen. As he was applying it, Kate looked over her shoulder at him again. "Gordo?"

"Yea?"

"Umm...Have you ever...you know," Kate asked hesitantly. _"Why am I acting so nervous about this? Its just a simple question."_ "Been with a girl?"

Gordo looked at her confused for a moment, his hands resting on her back. Suddenly it clicked, "You mean had sex?" he asked, not completely sure but it was the only thing he could think of that she meant.

"Ye...Yea," she said as she cursed herself for acting so childish about it. _"Pull yourself together!"_

"Why do you wanna know?" Gordo asked curiously. He knew about Kate's reputation, but he never put much stock in reputations built on rumors and plus this was a different Kate, his Kat.

"I was just thinking. I mean, I've been thinking about us and my reputation." Kate looked away in a mix of embarrassment and shame. "Five," she said softly.

"Five? Oh."

Kate took a deep breath and looked out at the ocean. "I've fooled around a lot but I've only had sex five times. Three boyfriends and twice as a fling at a party."

"Once," Gordo said as he wrapped his arms around Kate again and pulled her to him again.

"Lizzie?" she asked looking at him.

Gordo nodded in confirmation. "I don't care about your reputation," he told her.

Kate leaned back against him, "Its not really that, I just don't want to hide anything from you. Especially when we..." she trailed off as her face went red.

Gordo laughed softly but couldn't help but feel his ego being stroked. "You've thought about us together?"

"Of course. I mean I lov...I really like you." She wasn't quite ready to tell him what she was about to.

Gordo rested his chin on her shoulder. "Look, when or even if we do have sex, I can wait for you. It'll be the right place and the right time. I'm in no rush, I just like spending time with you." Gordo grinned as he watched Kate smile a little. "Kat?"

Kate's smile widened at the sound of his nickname for her. "Yea?"

"I really like you too."

Kate looked back at him and into his eyes. She knew by the look in his eyes, that he knew what she wasn't ready to tell him and that he felt the same way. "What did I do to deserve you?"

Gordo shrugged and kissed her cheek. "You let yourself be you," he whispered into her ear.

After talking some more and taking a walk along the water's edge, they decided to head back home as clouds started to roll in.

As they were packing and on the way home Kate had forced Gordo into playing twenty questions. For her, it was more of a matter of wanting to find out more about Gordo than it was really an attempt to kill time.

"Favorite color?"

Gordo rolled his eyes, "Blue."

"Wine red." Kate glared at Gordo as she heard him snicker over her exact shade of color. "Favorite movie?"

Gordo smiled, "I really don't have one favorite. I guess my favorites would be the classic Maltese Falcon, the first Indiana Jones, and Spiderman 2." Glancing over at her, "You?"

"Titanic," Kate told him and then slapped Gordo in the arm as he snickered at her again. "Book?"

"Three Musketeers." This time Kate snickered at Gordo. Gordo laughed, "Shut up. I like the story."

"Ivanhoe," Kate said suddenly.

After Gordo pulled up in front of apartment building, he looked at her, "You read Ivanhoe?"

Kate looked back at him, "Yea. I read it back in 8th grade, when we had Mr. Keith as a substitute in English. The female lead is cool. She's a woman but she's a good fighter and doesn't completely depend on Ivanhoe. I like fairytales and all but after awhile you just get sick of the females waiting to be saved by their prince."

"I'm impressed. I would've never guessed you were so deep back then."

"What about now?" Kate asked him with a smug grin.

"Now I'd believe anything is possible," he joked. "What do you wanna do now?"

"Let me go change and we'll go down to the connivance store down the block. We'll load up on junk food and watch some DVDs," she said getting out and grabbing her bag.

"Sounds good," Gordo said as he got out too and followed her inside the building.


	7. Attraction

D.Torres – I get what your saying and I'll try to create some chapters that cover more than one day. But the big problem is that I have to create stuff for them to do and/or talk about and sometimes I just can't come up with enough to fill a chapter. The first "multi-day" chapter will be Chapter 8, 7 is continuation of 6. I have a good idea of where I can put a second one but beyond that I'm not sure.

dbzneon – Lizzie and Gordo having slept together isn't going to really affect how Lizzie reacts to Kate and Gordo. I'm sure it'd be in the back of her mind but it's a part of their past that they're trying to move on from. In Chapter 8, I talk a little bit about Lizzie and Gordo's romantic relationship, why it didn't work out, where they stand with each other, etc. Without giving alot away, when Lizzie and Miranda find out what happened over the summer, there will be a small confrontation. They'll be angry at first but its more from they don't want to see him get hurt by Kate and they haven't seen the change in Kate, yet.

HeatherRiddle, sally – Thanks for the reviews.

A/N – _"Thoughts"_

Chapter 7 – Attraction

As Kate and Gordo walked down the street towards the connivance store to get the snacks for the movies, the clouds that were rolling in earlier started becoming darker. After loading up on junk food and soda, they were about halfway back to the apartment, when the sky let loose. Since there was no way they would be able to make it back to the apartment before getting drenched, they just kept walking at their normal pace.

Reaching the apartment building, they walked through the lobby, leaving large puddles behind from their drenched clothes. As they were waiting for the elevator, Kate glanced over at Gordo and grinned. To her, he looked adorable with his black, curly hair all wet and plastered to his head.

On the way up, Gordo tried to keep his eyes focused on the closed elevator doors in front of him. He was trying to use anything to distract him from looking at Kate. Gordo knew that if he just glanced at her, he wouldn't be able to look away. The rain had caused her clothes to cling to her, showing off the curves of her body. Closing his eyes, he let out a breath and tried to keep his body under control.

_"Think about anything else. Think about the basketball game Hill Ridge played against Jefferson when Danny dove head first into the stands and cutting his forehead open,"_ he grinned a little as it temporarily took his mind off of Kate. But then just as quickly, it returned as an image of Kate in her cheerleading uniform passed through his mind. _"Damn it!"_

As they walked inside the apartment, they dumped their junk food on the kitchen tables. "Why don't you go in the bathroom and get out of your wet clothes. I'll bring ya a robe or something to change into," Kate told him as she was taking the stuff out of the wet bags.

"Uhuh," Gordo mumbled absentmindedly as he tried not to drool as he saw how Kate's wet shirt was clinging to her.

Looking up, Kate caught him staring at her. She watched Gordo's eyes go wide, look away, and his cheeks blush. Quickly realizing what he had been staring at, she looked down a little embarrassed herself but a small smile still tugged at her lips. "I better go change too."

Too embarrassed to really say anything, Gordo just nodded and quickly walked away towards the bathroom. Kate let a little giggle escape her lips as she walked into her room and to her own bathroom.

A few minutes later, Gordo had just grabbed a towel out of the linen closet, when he heard the door open.

"I got you a," Kate started to stay but quickly trailed off as she watched Gordo quickly wrap the towel around his waist.

"Kate!"

Biting her lip, she continued to just stare at him with a small smile. Gordo started to get uncomfortable. "Kate?"

"I got you a robe," she said after snapping out of her trance. Gordo took the robe and quickly put it on. "My Dad and Annie collect these things from all the fancy hotels they've been too." Pausing for a moment, Kate scolded herself as she found her eyes wondering back to Gordo's waist. "We can throw your clothes in the dryer while we watch the movies."

After being thoroughly embarrassed, Gordo looked up at her as he put the robe on. She was wearing a light pink robe that fell to mid-thigh. Picking his clothes up, he followed Kate into a small enclave that had a washer and dryer. Tossing the clothes and towel into the dryer, they left them to dry as they walked back to the kitchen.

Standing next to each other, they started picking at the junk food that littered the kitchen table. After standing around in an awkward silence for a few minutes, Gordo glanced up at Kate. He couldn't help but snicker and a small smile spread across his face as he noticed some chocolate on the corner of Kate's mouth.

"What?" Kate asked him.

"You have some chocolate around your mouth." He watched in amusement as Kate wiped her mouth but still missed it. Stepping close to her, he cupped her face with his hand, "I'll do it." As he whipped the chocolate away with his thumb, he seemed to get mesmerized by her blue eyes.

Kate slipped an arm around his waist and Gordo leaned in to give her a simple kiss. But as soon as their lips meet, the kiss instantly deepened.

Stumbling into the living room, Kate's free hand immediately grabbed the knot that tied Gordo's robe closed. Bumping into the back of the couch, Kate pressed herself against Gordo and caused them to lose their balance, flipping them over the back of the couch.

Kate landed on top of Gordo and quickly pulled the knot undone, opening Gordo's robe. While they were making out, Kate's robe had slowly loosened. Gordo threaded his arms inside her robe, wrapped them around her, and gently ran his hands across her back. Kate let out a soft moan against Gordo's lips.

As Kate's robe finally came undone and opened, they were very close when she suddenly felt this was wrong. _"No! This isn't right! We gotta stop before it goes to far."_

"Gordo, stop please," she said in an almost whimper against his lips.

Gordo stopped and just held her. Looking into her eyes, "Kat?" He grew nervous as he watched Kate's eyes start to tear up.

"This isn't right," she whispered. Gordo loosened his hold on her and she sat up while pulling her robe around her, tying it haphazardly. "I…I," Kate moved to the end of the couch, pulling her legs up against her chest and wrapped her arms around herself.

Closing his eyes and letting out a deep breath, trying to calm his body, he closed his robe and sat up next to her. "What's wrong?" he asked gently putting a hand on her back.

"I don't want our first time to just be a lust filled groping session. I want it to be special." She put her head against her knees and a few tears started to fall.

Wrapping her in a tight hug, Gordo nuzzled her hair and whispered into her ear. "Kat, please stop crying. I'm in no rush. If you're not ready, just tell me."

"But you'll leave me," Kate mumbled softly against her knees.

"Leave?" Gordo asked in surprise as he picked his head up. "I'm not going anywhere Kat."

Kate picked her own head up and looked at him. "But when I don't have sex with a guy, he leaves."

"They were jerks. I don't want to do anything you're not ready for. I can wait, when the time comes it'll be worth the wait."

Kate gave him a small smile and wiped her eyes. "Thanks David." As he smiled back at her, she looked at him for a few moments and something inside her clicked. _"I know we're not ready to have sex but there are other ways to be intimate with someone. I want to be closer to him."_ she thought as she wiped her eyes.

Grabbing his hand, Kate stood up and pulled Gordo up to his feet. "Kate?" Gordo asked a little confused.

"There is other stuff we can do," Kate playfully suggested as she lightly kissed him.

Gordo arched his eyebrows at her, "Kate, I don't want to push you. I don't want you to,"

Kate shook her head no and looked at him very seriously, "You're not pushing me. I want to do this with you." She gave him a small devious smile as she led him into her bedroom.


	8. A Weekend Together

Thanks to the wonderful QuickEdit, I have to change the symbol I use for thoughts, again. I'm sick of trying to find a symbol it recognizes, so I'm going to italicized them and see how it works out.

All Reviewers – Thanks for the reviews. I wasn't expecting to get this big of a reaction from a K/G but I'm really glad a lot of people are liking this story.

Tinkerbell79 – Cliffhanger? I left it open ended like that so the reader could take it as far as they wanted to.

HeatherRiddle – I get what your saying now and I'll try adding in some of it here and there.

Reese aka BabyGurL – Wow. Thank you.

A/N – _"Thoughts"_

Chapter 8 – A Weekend Together

It was Friday night and Mr. Sanders and Annie had gone out for the night, leaving Kate to baby sit Julie. Since she had to baby sit, she called Gordo to have him come over to keep her company. After Gordo somehow got Julie to go to bed, he had suggested watching a movie, since they never actually got around to watching one last time, and he reluctantly agreed to watch Titanic.

During the movie, Kate had settled next to Gordo and leaned against his side with her head resting on his shoulder. She stayed like that for the entire movie. As the movie ended, she sniffled a little and wiped at her eyes.

Hearing Gordo snicker softly, she looked at him. "Oh shut up," she said hitting him lightly in the chest.

"I can't help it. Three hours for the stupid ship to hit an oversized ice cube," he joked.

Kate rolled her eyes as she moved away from him and got up from the couch. "Guys." she mumbled as she headed towards the kitchen. After grabbing a can of soda from the refrigerator, she walked to Julie's room. Quietly opening the door, Kate popped her head in and checked on her little stepsister. She grinned a little as she saw Julie sound asleep clutching her teddy bear.

Walking back to the kitchen, she found Gordo cleaning the bowl they had used for popcorn. Wrapping her arms around his waist from behind, she rested her chin on his shoulder.

"I don't know how you did it but the little demon is sound asleep," Kate told him.

Gordo grinned, "She's not that bad."

"Cause she actually listens to you," Kate told him as she let go.

Gordo laughed a little and glanced at her, "If I can handle Matt, I'm not too scared of a little toddler." Looking at his watch, "I gotta go. I promised my mom I'd be back by ten," he told her.

"What? Gordo can't stay and play?" she asked sarcastically then kissed him.

Snickering, "You still wanna take that boat tour tomorrow?" Gordo asked her, trying to put her last comment out of his mind.

"Yea, it sounds like fun. You're coming over at eight right?" she asked as they stood in the doorway.

Gordo nodded, "Yea. We'll do breakfast here and then you wanted to take the trolleys to the wharf."

"Right." She then leaned in and gave Gordo a lingering kiss. "Sure you don't wanna stay and play?" she teased.

Groaning, "I hate it when you play dirty." Kate just gave him an innocent smile. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Kate laughed at Gordo, "Bye Gordo," she said as she watched him walk towards the elevator.

Just like they had planned, Gordo had come over at eight the next morning. They had breakfast, which Gordo had picked up on the way there, on the rooftop, so they could be alone. The rooftop had become their own private area, and for Kate, a sanctuary away from her stepmother.

After breakfast, they walked a few blocks and caught the trolley that'd take them to the wharf. It probably would've been easier to drive but they both had been wanting to take the trolleys somewhere and this seemed like their best opportunity.

About a hour later, they were sitting in a large boat that was going to take them on the tour around the bay. There were two tours, one that would tour the bay and another one that would take them to Alcatraz and a few of the other islands in the bay. Since they had already gone to Alcatraz the last time they had been to Fisherman's Wharf, Gordo let Kate decided which tour she wanted to go on. She picked the one that goes around the bay.

As they were out on the water, the wind started picking up. Kate zipped her windbreaker closed and slid closer to Gordo. Grinning a little, he wrapped an arm around her waist.

As Kate was busy taking pictures and looking around, Gordo watched her with a small smile. She was wearing jeans and a light blue windbreaker over an old black t-shirt, and she had pulled her hair back into a ponytail to keep it from blowing all over the place.

He was wearing jeans and a plain red t-shirt underneath a dark gray pullover windbreaker. Leaning his head next to her's, he asked her, "Having fun?"

Kate, who's head was turned away from him and looking into the water over the edge of the boat, looked at him and smiled when she noticed how close their faces were.

"Yea," she said softly back to him before she gave him a light kiss on the lips. They both looked at each other for a few minutes before they looked back out at the water.

During the tour, they came across a whale as it came to the surface for air. Gordo watched in amusement as Kate got all excited and started taking pictures. _"Sometimes she really reminds me of the little girl I used to know."_

The tour had taken about two hours and by the time they got back to the wharf, it was time for lunch. Walking down the wharf hand in hand, they picked a different restaurant from the one they went to last time.

After walking into the restaurant, they were shown to a small table near a window that over looked the Bay. As Kate reached for her seat, Gordo quickly beat her to the chair and pulled it out for her. Thrown a little by the gesture, she looked at him in a little bit of surprise. Gordo just smiled a little at her.

When he heard about how some of the guys had treated her in the past, it kinda opened his eyes a little. He figured the least he could do was make her feel special by doing some of the little things, like pulling out her chair for her. He wouldn't over do it but every so often, just to let her know that he cared about her.

When he had done it with Lizzie, it was more of a second nature for him to do stuff like this for her. Gordo would just have to keep reminding himself to do it.

Lizzie had once told him, _"Sometimes the little things speak louder than the big gestures."_

"Thanks," Kate said softly with a little grin as she sat down. _"I don't think a guy as ever done that for me before."_

After walking around the table to his own seat, Gordo sat down and looked across the table with a grin. "So did you have fun?" he asked her.

Kate looked back at him with a smile. "Yea. The tour was fun and the whale was cool. I hope my pictures come out." Gordo just smiled as he watched and listened to Kate talk about the tour.

As they were eating, Gordo glanced up and watched Kate fighting with the lobster she had ordered. She was having hard time cracking the shell. As Gordo started chuckling, Kate snapped and shattered the piece of shell she was working on. Pieces of shell deflected off of Gordo's face while he was sprayed with some of the juices inside it.

Kate had to bite her lip from laughing hysterically as she watched Gordo reach for his napkin. "Remember that next time you laugh at me," she said in between fits of laughter. Gordo just scowled as he whipped the gunk off his face.

Sunday night found Kate and Gordo laying on a large beach blanket on the rooftop, they were lying quietly next to each other and were staring up at the stars. Kate had also brought up a small boom box and it was playing very low in the background.

Looking over at Gordo, she smiled. Getting up, she walked over to her boom box.

Gordo had been picking out the constellations in the night sky when he noticed Kate get up. Sitting up, he watched her kneel in front of the boom box and heard her raise the volume a little.

Kate stood up again and walked back to him. Standing in front of him, she smiled down at him. "Dance with me."

He wanted to say no, that he doesn't dance, but the words never came out. Standing up, "I'm not very good," was what he found himself saying.

She just shrugged and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Just relax and listen to the music."

Gordo nodded and wrapped his arms around her waist. He tried to stop thinking and just move in time with Kate. She moved in closer and rested her head on his shoulder. Feeling goose bumps rise where he felt her breath on his neck, Gordo held her tighter. As the song ended, they just stayed in each other's arms.

Suddenly, Gordo heard Kate giggle a little. "What?"

"I was just thinking about when we were younger, I used to think you were really strange and I couldn't understand why Lizzie liked you so much," she told him without removing her head from his shoulder.

"Look who's talking. I couldn't figure out why anyone would want to spend all day playing with dolls and makeup." They both started laughing.

"Though I will admit, I've always thought you were cute," Kate told him as she picked her head up and kissed his cheek.

"I thought you were cute too."

She gave him a smirk, "Yea, only because I was one of the first girls to develop," she teased him.

"Nah, that was junior high," he said while laughing. "Before all that. Aside from the dolls and constantly wanting to play dress up, I thought you were really pretty. I never really had a stage where I thought girls were yucky and gross. Strange, yes." He then gave her an evil smile, "Of course you were no Lizzie."

Kate smirked and stomped on his foot. Gordo wiggled his foot a little, trying to alleviate the pain, but he continued to smile at her.

"You're lucky I like you," she told him. She then grew serious, "Can I ask you something?" When Gordo nodded, she continued, "Why didn't you and Lizzie work out?"

Lizzie and Gordo had been dating since the beginning of freshman year but in the beginning of junior year, they broke up.

"We eventually realized we were too close. After the lust and the newness of our relationship wore off, it was like we were still just best friends but with a few added bonuses. We decided it'd be better to be just best friends for now. If we're meant to be together, we'll find our way back to each other."

Kate nodded and letting go of him. After she walked over to shut the boom box off, she laid back down on the blanket and stared up at the night sky. Gordo walked back to the blanket and sat down next to her.

"Do you think you'll go back to her, someday?" she asked tentatively as she looked up at him.

Gordo shrugged, "I don't know. Could I see it happening? Sure. But for all I know, I haven't met the woman I'm gonna spend the rest of my life with." He then looked down at her and met her gaze. "Or she could be laying beside me right now. Who knows what'll happen between us. We may break up at the end of summer only to get back together for good next summer."

"Do you still love her?" she asked him.

"Yes," he said simply. "But I don't know if I love her like a girlfriend or a sister." He paused for a moment as he looked at her. "I do know, that right now, I like being with you and I take our relationship very seriously, even if it's just a summer romance. I care about you and I want to see you happy."

Smiling at him, Kate shifted so instead of lying next to him, her head was now resting in his lap. As Gordo gently toyed with her hair, "I take us seriously too," she told him as she closed her eyes. "You know when you're not spouting off useless facts, you can be really romantic."


	9. Don't Want To Let You Go

D.Torres – I slipped up in Chapter 1, Julie is Kate's stepsister. The error in Chapter 8 was because of my automatic spell check, it changed the word on me. Thanks for pointing them out and I've fixed both errors. As for when the chapters are set, 6 & 7 is late July, 8 is early August, and 9 & 10 is mid-August.

A/N – _"Thoughts"_

Chapter 9 – Don't Want To Let You Go

At least once a month over the summer, Mr. Gordon would drive up from Hill Ridge to San Francisco to spend the weekend with his family. This particular weekend, they were going out to dinner and Mr. and Mrs. Gordon had told Gordo to invite Kate to go with them. They wanted to get to know their son's new girlfriend better.

Kate knew that they already had the perceived image of her being a spoiled, rich girl and she was desperate to change that.

The dinner had gone relatively smoothly. They had basically grilled Kate about a variety of stuff, from high school and college plans to Gordo and her family. She could tell by their reactions to her answers, that she had impressed them a little and had started to change how they really saw her.

As they were driving home, Kate yawned and rested her head on Gordo's shoulder as they sat in the back seat. She was tired but happy.

Gordo smiled at her and kissed the top of her head. "You did good." he whispered to her. Gordo had been nervous about dinner when he reluctantly agreed to his parents offer. He was glad it had gone so well and that his parents had gotten a glimpse of the girl he saw.

Kate looked up at him and gave him a tired grin. Slipping her hand inside his, she intertwined their fingers and gently squeezed.

A few minutes later, they pulled up in front of the Sanders' apartment building. Gordo opened the door, got out first and then turned around to help her get out. As she walked up the steps in front of him, a small smile tugged at Gordo's lips as he followed. "You know, blue defiantly looks good on you."

As they stood on the stoop, Kate gave him another tired smiled. She had on a dark blue pantsuit with a light cream colored blouse and matching dark blue heels. "You just wanna get in my pants again." she teased.

"Well that's partially true," he shot back at her with a lopsided grin as he pulled at his tie. "But you do look beautiful." he told her and then gave her a small kiss.

"Gordo, I've been thinking. What's going to happen when we go back to Hill Ridge? This is your last week here but I don't want to let you go," Kate told him as she quickly grabbed his hands.

"Do we have to let it go?" Gordo asked her. He pretty much knew the answer but decided to ask anyway.

Kate fought back the tears that were threatening to fall. "We have to. In Hill Ridge, we live in two separate worlds and they don't interact well. I can't ask you to give up everything just for me and I can't either."

Gordo leaned up a little and kissed her forehead. Pulling back, he looked her in the eyes, "So then let's make it a week to remember."

Kate smiled at him and nodded her head. "Sounds fun."

"See you tomorrow?" Gordo asked with a grin.

Kate nodded her head and smiled, though sadly. She then slowly leaned in and gave Gordo a long goodnight kiss.

A few hours later, Gordo had just taken a shower and changed for bed. Deciding not to go straight to sleep, he headed towards the living room to watch tv for awhile. He couldn't stop thinking about how they only had a week left together.

As he was walking through the living room, someone started knocking on the door. _"Its freakin eleven o'clock, who the hell would be here at this hour?"_ Just as he reached the door, the knocking increased. Looking through the peephole, _"Kate?"_

Opening the door, he just had to look at her to know something was wrong. "Kate?" Gordo quickly grabbed Kate's hand and brought her inside.

"Stupid bitch," Kate growled softly. Gordo just nodded and immediately knew what happened. He knew Kate had gotten into a fight with Annie, and by the look of her right now, Gordo knew it had been bad.

Her face was twisted into a scowl and her eyes were a little red with some faint mascara smears around them.

He slowly looked her over to make sure was physically alright and he tried not to smirk as he noticed she was wearing miss matched sweats, something neither the old Kate or the new Kate would do.

_"She must've just thrown on whatever she could find and took off."_

Kicking the door closed with his foot, he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her into a hug. Kate immediately grabbed his shirt and pressed her face into the crook of his neck.

Hearing the commotion, Mrs. Gordon stood in the bedroom doorway and watched them. She smiled a little as she watched how Gordo tried to comfort Kate. Deciding to let Gordo handle it for now, she walked back into the bedroom.

"What's going on out there?" Mr. Gordon asked as he walked out of the bathroom and looked at his wife.

"Kate needed to talk to Gordo," was all she told him.

"At this hour?" he asked, then he noticed his wife's serious expression. "Should we," he started to ask but Mrs. Gordon cut him off.

"Let David handle it," she told him and Mr. Gordon nodded reluctantly.

In the living room, Gordo had brought Kate over to the couch and they sat down together. "What happened?" he asked as he brushed some hair away from her face and gently stroked her cheek.

Kate took a deep breath and as her hands clenched into fists, she leaned into Gordo. Tightening his hold around her, he gently rubbed her back.

"The stupid bitch started yelling at me cause I was supposed to watch Julie tonight. She didn't even tell me I was supposed to baby-sit or they were going out. I told them last week about dinner with your parents. Then whore called me the bastard daughter." She had started angrily but as she finished, she was completely upset.

Gordo shook his head in disgust and just held Kate as the tears started to fall. Taking a deep breath, Gordo didn't want to ask but he needed to know the answer, "Do they know you're not there?"

Kate just shook her head no. Sighing softly, he felt Kate bury her face in his shoulder. Reaching up, he gently stroked her hair.

Early that morning, Mrs. Gordon woke up, quietly got out of bed and walked out into the living room. Taking a quick look out the window, the sun was just starting to peak over the horizon.

Looking at the couch, Gordo was slouched down in a corner with Kate sprawled out on top of him. Kate was asleep but Gordo was still awake gently stroking the back of her head.

Walking around the end of the couch, Mrs. Gordon saw Gordo's tired eyes. Hearing his mom, he looked up at her. "She ok?" she whispered.

"Upset but ok," Gordo said then let out a huge yawn as he fought against his closing eyes.

"Go to sleep honey." Mrs. Gordon smiled as Gordo gave her a small, tired nod.

Gordo leaned his head against the back of the couch and closed his eyes. Within seconds, he was asleep. Mrs. Gordon grabbed an extra blanket and draped it over them. Giving her son a gentle and loving stroke on the head, Mrs. Gordon headed back to the bedroom.


	10. Bittersweet Goodbye

The tormented soul warning is in effect, dangerous fluff ahead. lol.

Speaking of tormented soul, since we seem to share a lot of the same readers, he is writing but real life as been getting in the way for him lately. He wants to let his readers know that he is trying his best to update his stories as soon as he can and that he has updated Family.

Winter Blaze – They didn't leave Julie home alone but they had to change their plans because Kate wasn't home to babysit for them. That's what pissed Annie off, she had to cancel her night out. Kate was upset cause no one actually told her she was babysitting that night or that they were planning to go out.

A/N – _"Thoughts"_

Chapter 10 – Bittersweet Goodbye

Even though she got grounded from her blowout argument with Annie, Kate wasn't going to let it stop her from spending Gordo and her's last week together. She spent the entire week sneaking in and out of the apartment, so she could be with Gordo. She knew she was taking a huge risk but the payoff made it so worth it.

Friday night as she was sneaking back into her room, Julie came barging into her room and clutching her teddy bear and a book. Kate froze in the windowsill, half in the room and half outside on the fire escape. Julie titled her head a little trying to figure out where what she was doing.

"What ya doing?" Julie asked her.

"Uh…Just getting some air," Kate said hoping she'd buy it. "What do you want?" she asked bring herself completely into the room and shutting the window.

"Story," Julie said as she held the book out to Kate.

Kate looked at her for a moment and decided it'd just be easier to read her a story. "Ok," she said taking the book and sitting down in a small armchair in the corner of her room. Julie climbed up into her lap and made herself comfortable leaning against Kate's chest.

Before she started reading, "Gordo gonna come over again?" Julie asked looking up at Kate.

"Umm, prolly not for awhile. He's gonna go home on Sunday," Kate told her. She looked at Julie for a moment, "Why?" she asked curiously.

"He's funny," Julie said laughing a little. "I wanna color with him again."

Kate smiled at her, leaned down and gently kissed her the top of her head. "How about next time he's in town, I'll bring him over and the three of us can do something together."

"Promise?" the little girl asked.

Kate nodded. "I promise," she said before she started reading the story Julie had picked.

That weekend, her Father, Annie, and Julie were going out of town to visit Annie's parents. If Annie had any idea that Kate wanted them out of the house so she'd have it to herself, she would've insisted that she go with them. But Kate remembered Gordo's words, _"You gotta now what battles to fight."_ So Kate kept her mouth shut and they left her home alone.

Having the whole apartment to herself, she ignored her Father's and Annie's rules and began to plan a romantic weekend for the last weekend she would spend with Gordo as a couple.

Saturday, Kate had borrowed her father's Porsche. Gordo and her had driven around the Bay Area, ending up in Golden Gate Park for a small picnic lunch. A little bit later, she dropped Gordo off at his hotel and went back to the apartment to setup dinner.

Just like she told him, Gordo came over at six. After buzzing him in, she quickly checked herself over. To put it simply, Kate was wearing her little black dress. The black dress was strapless, with a low cut collar, and went down to mid-thigh. It was a tight, form fitting dress and incredibly showed off her athletic body. She also had on a pair of open toed, black, stiletto heels that strapped about half way up her calf. Smiling to herself, she walked to the door.

Opening it, it was her mouth that dropped as she looked at Gordo. He was wearing a black suit jacket over a silver no-collar dress shirt, black dress pants, and a pair of black dress shoes. She was instantly considering skipping dinner and just jumping him in the living room.

"You look incredible," Gordo's words snapped her out of daydream.

"Uh?" Kate muttered as she stared blankly at him. Gordo snickered and she blushed slightly. "Thanks. You look good too."

Gordo gave her a small sarcastic smile as he walked inside. Scanning the room, he spotted a candlelight dinner on the kitchen table. Walking through the kitchen, he spotted something on the counter. Picking up a small container, he smirked. _"The Coliseum."_ Tossing it into the garbage before Kate saw him with it, "You make this yourself?"

"I had a hand in it."

As they ate, both tried to avoid the subject of Gordo leaving and their senior year. Neither really wanted to deal with the fact that in less than twenty four hours they wouldn't be together anymore.

After dinner and clearing the table, they sat together on the couch. Gordo had a leg laying against the back of the couch and one dangling off it, Kate was sitting in between his legs and leaning back against his chest. Gordo's hands rested on Kate's stomach, with her hands over his.

"I love you," Kate whispered very softly.

Gordo wasn't sure he heard her right, "What?"

Kate shifted on the couch so she was now sitting forward, and looked over at him. Gently cupping his face with one hand. "I love you," she said louder and with more confidence. "I thought I was dead inside. You took that one glimmer of life I had left and if only for a summer, made it come alive. I love you."

"I lov," he wanted to say back but Kate stopped him with a finger pressed to his lips.

"No you don't. You have strong feelings for me but its not love. If we actually had a future, maybe."

"Kat," he mumbled softly against her finger. As she removed it, Gordo wrapped an arm around her waist. "I really like you."

Kate smiled at him and came to a decision. Leaning in, she started to passionately kiss him and her hands started to fumble with the buttons on his shirt. Gordo, taking his lead from her, grabbed her outside leg and pulled her onto his lap.

After making out for a few minutes, Kate disentangled herself and stood up. Pulling Gordo up to his feet, she led them into her bedroom.

Once inside her bedroom, Kate quickly spun on Gordo. Pushing his jacket off him, she alternated between kissing him and undoing his remaining shirt buttons. Gordo's hands slowly found their way to the back of her dress and to the zipper. By the time Kate had his shirt open and off him, Gordo had her dress unzipped.

"Kat, are you sure about this?" he said, though it came out as more of a growl.

Grabbing his belt buckle, she pulled him to her, "Before I have to bury her, I want my last memory as Kat to be a good one." She then silenced the rest of his protest with a deep french kiss.

Almost ripping his pants open, Kate got them to drop to his feet. As Kate spun them around, Gordo kicked his shoes off. Using all of her strength, Kate pushed him down onto her bed. Stepping out of her heels, she smiled as she looked at Gordo in a t-shirt and boxers. Shifting her shoulders slightly, Kate made the dress slip off and down her body.

Gordo's brain just shut down as he looked at her in her lacy, black underwear. Gently lying on top of him, she grabbed a condom off her nightstand. "I love you," she whispered into his ear as she started to remove their underwear.

The next morning, Kate started to wake up. She smiled as she slowly became aware of her surroundings. Gordo and her were lying on their sides, facing each other, and their bodies tangled together. Slowly lifting her head, she looked at her window and saw sunlight.

Groaning, she put her head back down and buried it against Gordo chest. _"Damn morning! I don't want it to end!" _she whined to herself.

Feeling Gordo's arms tighten around her, she bit her lip. _"No! Go back to sleep!"_

"Morning Kat," he mumbled as he slowly opened his eyes.

She tightened her hold on his waist and nuzzled his neck. "I don't want this to end," she wined softly.

Kate felt Gordo's chest vibrate as he laughed. "Was I that good?"

"Hmm, incredible," she said softly in between placing kisses on his neck.

Slowly untangling from each other, Gordo slipped out of bed and pulled on his boxers, pants, and socks. Kate just laid in bed and watched him. As he was putting on the rest of his clothes, Kate got out of bed and pulled her robe on.

Finishing dressing, Gordo wrapped his arms around her. "If you need anything," Gordo told her as he pressed his forehead against her's.

"I know, thanks." Kate hugged him as she felt a few tears start to fall. "I promise to try and not be such a jackass to you at home."

Taking each other's hand, they slowly walked towards the front door.

Standing in the doorway, Kate and Gordo looked at each other for a moment. "Bye Gordo."

"Bye Kat."

After a long, lingering goodbye kiss, Kate leaned against the doorframe and watched Gordo walk into the elevator. She stood there watching him until the elevator doors shut and it was on its way down. Wiping away the tears that were starting to fall, she walked back inside and closed the door.

A/N 2 – Quick comment about when Kate says she loves Gordo and she won't let Gordo say it back, so he tells her he really likes her. In Ch 6, the beach chapter, Kate almost slips and tells him she loves him but isn't quite ready. So she tells him she really likes him. Gordo gets what she's trying to tell him. In this chapter, Kate won't let him say that he loves her cause she believes they have no future (atleast immediately) and that it would just make things harder. But Gordo wants to tell her how he feels, so its kinda like he flashes back to that moment on the beach. To him, telling her this is just like the beach, when she couldn't tell him that she loved him (though for different reasons). Kate understands the deeper meaning of his words and what he's trying to get across to her. I'm prolly really stretching though but that was my thought process behind it.


	11. First Day

A/N – _"Thoughts"_

Chapter 11 – First Day

Gordo slowly walked into Hill Ridge High School for the first day of his senior year. He was trying his best to let his feelings for Kate go, to move on. He kept trying to believe Kate, that their two worlds didn't mix. But he couldn't, _"Or maybe its I don't want to believe it."_

As he slowly walked through the crowded hallways, deep in thought, he was eventually heading towards the cafeteria. Before homeroom each day, he and his friends would meet at their table and just hangout until it was time for homeroom.

Nearing the table, he noticed that Lizzie and Miranda were already there. When the girls heard him approach, they both looked up and gave him identical grins.

Gordo immediately felt the hairs on the back of his neck go up. "What?" he asked innocently as he sat down.

"I can't believe you had a summer fling," Miranda said sarcastically.

Gordo rolled his eyes, "I did not have a summer fling."

"Whatever," she said with a smirk. Miranda then turned to Lizzie, "So what's she like?"

Lizzie snickered and shrugged, "Don't know. The only thing I know is that he met someone."

Gordo groaned as Lizzie and Miranda turned their attention back to him. "Come on Gordo, give us the dets. What's her name? What's she like?" Miranda pressed him

"Ok, fine." _"I can't tell them its Kate, so what the hell do I say?"_ After thinking about it for a moment, he grinned as an idea came to him. "Her name is Kat and we met one of the first days I was in San Francisco. She was living with her father and stepfamily during the summer. We did the tourist thing for awhile and basically just hung out together."

Lizzie noticed the necklace and pendant hanging around his neck. "She give you this?" she asked gently holding the pendant.

"Yea. She bought it when we were in Chinatown. It's a Chinese character that means friendship." Both girls gave him a sarcastic ah. "Shut up," he told them while laughing.

Before he continued, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. As Lizzie and Miranda were talking, he glanced quickly to his left and saw her. Kate was sitting a few feet away. Catching her eye, she gave him a quick smirk. Gordo realized she had heard what he was saying. _"We never said we were gonna keep it a secret."_

"Gordo," Lizzie said as she snapped her fingers in front of his face. Gordo turned to her and gave her an annoyed look. "What's Kat like?" she asked him.

Taking a quickly glance to his left again, he saw Kate give him a small nod. "It…It was like hanging out with an old friend I hadn't seen in awhile. We just sort of clicked. It was weird cause on the surface, we're complete opposites but we had fun. She really surprised me and showed some incredible depth."

"You do anything other than the tourist thing?" Miranda asked with an evil smile.

"What do you mean?" Gordo asked trying to act innocent.

"Come on Gordo. We wanna know the good stuff," Lizzie told him laughing.

Gordo rolled his eyes. "Fine. We made out and…did other stuff," he answered a little embarrassed and Miranda and Lizzie continued to tease Gordo about his summer girlfriend.

As Kate tried to listen to more of what Gordo was saying, Claire kicked her under the table. Kate looked across the table at Claire, and gave her an annoyed glare. Claire just motioned with her head towards the end of the table. Looking down, she saw Gretchen looking at her. _"Great. What the hell does Barbie want now?"_

"What Bar, Gretchen?" Kate said coldly, once again putting the mask on.

Gretchen flipped her light blonde hair over her shoulder and adjusted her low cut shirt. "I wanted to know if you had memorized the new cheers yet?" she asked her just as coldly as she continued to prim herself.

"Oh, I'll be ready."

"Sure you're in shape?" Gretchen asked with a sarcastic smirk.

Kate let out a low, almost feral growl. "I'm in shape." Then a small smirk tugged at Kate's lips, "Speaking of shape. I've always wonder something Gretch, are they real?"

Gretchen made a small gasping noise and everyone at the table looked at Kate, not believing what she just asked. Claire, Brooke, and Alix were trying their best not to laugh out loud and Kate heard Gordo snicker a table away.

Gretchen just stood up and glared at Kate, "You just better be ready for practice." With that, Gretchen and her friends stood up and stormed away.

"God that felt good," Kate said out loud and her friends just started laughing.

Later that day, Kate and Gordo found out that they had the same English class. In fate's cruel joke, they found themselves sitting next to each other in the far corner.

As the teacher lectured, Kate tried to focus on what she was saying but was failing miserably. After about fifteen minutes, Kate started to flip through the textbook. She was desperate to try anything to keep her from looking at the boy next to her. _"How the hell am I supposed to let him go when he's so close!"_

Shutting the book, Kate propped her head up with her hand and making sure she was looking away from Gordo. _"It'd never work anyway. We're from two different worlds. It'd never workout, there's too much in our way."_

For some reason, she glanced over at Gordo and their eyes met. Quickly looking away, Kate felt a weird sensation and shivered. _"Than why can't I pull myself away?"_

Glancing over again, she noticed Gordo was staring at her and had the familiar far away look in his eyes. Kate tried to fight it but she could feel a smile tugging at her lips. Shifting slightly, she caused her skirt to ride up a little, exposing a little bit more of her leg. She watched in amusement as Gordo's ears started to redden and he looked away. As he shifted in his chair, Kate started giggling under her breath.

Gordo looked at her and when their eyes met, Kate felt something stir in her, a sort of desire. She wanted Gordo badly and suddenly she cursed herself for letting him go in the first place. Kate knew she wouldn't be happy until he was back with her and she was in his arms again.


	12. Secret Romance

A/N – _"Thoughts"_

Chapter 12 – Secret Romance

Gordo stood along the wall of the Colbar's living room and watched the people mingling with each other and walking around. Lizzie and Miranda had begged him to go with them to Dana Colbar's party, yet when they got there, both girls took off. Lizzie went to flirt with a guy and Miranda went to hang out with some friends. So here he was, bored out of his mind, at a party he didn't even want to go to in the first place.

Letting out a bored sigh, Gordo walked out of the living room and into the kitchen. Looking around for something to drink, he found nothing but alcohol. Rolling his eyes, he grabbed a beer. Taking a sip of it, he grimaced. Gordo was not a heavy drinker; in fact he wasn't a light one either.

Emptying the beer into the sink and tossing the can, he was about to walk out back when something caught his eye. From the kitchen, he could see into the family room where a familiar blonde was starring back at him. Gordo watched as one of the football players was trying to flirt with her.

Gordo smiled as Kate rolled her eyes, indicating the guy was boring her. He watched her say something to the guy and then walk past him, heading towards the kitchen.

"Follow me. I want to talk to you," Kate whispered as she walked past him and headed towards the living room.

Gordo quickly followed her and by the time he reached the living room, he saw her standing on one of the bottom stairs of the stairway looking back at him with small smile. As Kate walked up the stairs, Gordo quickly made his way through the crowd and took the steps two at time as he raced up them.

Reaching the second floor, he lost sight of her. Slowly walking down the hall, he tried looking for an open door but the only ones open were the bathroom and an empty bedroom.

Growling in frustration, he turned around and was about to walk back to the stairs when a hand grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him into the room that was behind him.

Stumbling backwards into the room, he heard the door shut. Regaining his balance, he stood up and found Kate standing in front of the door watching him with a smile. Letting out a deep breath, he looked at her. She was wearing a pink sleeveless blouse that fell off her shoulders, a really short jean skirt, and a pair of platform sandals.

Kate walked over to him and wrapping her arms around him, and gave him a long, deep kiss. Gordo slipped his arms around her waist and held her closer against him. Pulling back for air, they looked at each other with a mix of desire and uncertainty.

Letting go with one arm, Gordo gently brushed away some hair out of her face. "I thought you wanted to leave this in San Francisco."

Kate sighed softly and started to play with Gordo's hair. "I was wrong. I've been miserable this past week without you and then when I saw you the first day of school, everything hit me like a freight train. I need you. You make me happy and recently, there are very few things that do."

"So what do you want to do?"

Kate looked at him a little apprehensively. "I want us to be together but I think it'd be best if we kept it quiet." Before Gordo could argue, she silenced him with another kiss. "I know Lizzie, Miranda, and the rest of your friends would be accepting of us after awhile. But I don't know what my friends would say or even worse, what my enemies would do. I don't want to drag you into the middle of anything."

"But Kate," Gordo tried to protest but Kate kissed him again.

"Please Gordo. I'm not saying forever, just until we get out of this hellhole."

Gordo looked at her for a moment; she was giving him this sexy pout and he was having a hard time saying no. "I don't like it but alright."

Kate let out an excited squeal and jumped at him; the sudden shift in weight caused them to fall onto the bed. Landing on top of him, Kate folded her arms across his chest and rested her chin on her hands. For a moment, she just studied his face and a small grin formed.

Shifting so they were completely on the bed and his head was resting against the pillows, he kept his arms around her and looked back at her. "What?"

"I was just thinking about what you said the other day, to Lizzie and Miranda, about me?"

Gordo furrowed his brow and tried to remember what he had said. Giggling, Kate reached up with one hand and tried to smooth out his forehead. "You were telling them about your summer fling." Kate said sarcastically. Gordo smiled as he remembered what she was talking about. "It was like hanging out with an old friend I hadn't seen in awhile. We just sort of clicked. It was weird cause on the surface, we're complete opposites but we had fun. She really surprised me and showed some incredible depth." she repeated his words to him.

Arching an eyebrow, Gordo held her tighter, "You remember exactly what I said?"

Kate nodded. "Its not everyday someone actually says something nice about me and really mean it." Kate then gave Gordo a sly grin as she sat up on her knees. Reaching down, she started toying with the buttons on Gordo's grey shirt. "And I want to show you how much I appreciate it," she said as she started to open the shirt from top to bottom.

A few hours later, birds chirping outside an open window forced Gordo to wake up. Letting out an annoyed groan, he opened his eyes and it took him a moment to realize where he was. He was laying with Kate curled up underneath a blanket, both in their underwear, and in the master bedroom of Dana's house. Luckily, when Kate dragged him into the room, she had locked the door and nobody had interrupted them. After fooling around for a while, they had fallen asleep together on the bed.

As he scanned the room for a clock, Kate started to wake up next to him. Letting out an annoyed groan of her own, she turned over, snuggled closer to Gordo. "What time is it?" she mumbled into him.

Finally finding a clock, "Five forty eight."

Sighing, Kate sat up and ran a hand through her hair. "We should get outta of here."

As they both got up and started gathering their clothes, Gordo stopped for a moment and watched Kate. While it was hard to not just drool over a hot girl walking around in nothing but a strapless, low cut bra and a thong, the real reason, was in addition to all that, she was letting the real Kate out again and that's who Gordo was really attracted to.

Tossing his khakis and shirt onto the bed, he walked up to behind Kate. Wrapping his arms around her, he started to kiss her neck.

Kate let out a soft moan and tried to ignore her body's protest. "Gordo, no," she softly whined as she arched her neck and he continued to kiss it. "We gotta go. I don't want Gretchen or her drones catching us." Giving Kate a little pout, that caused her to laugh, Gordo let go and they got dressed.

Successfully making their way out of the house with no one seeing them, they walked down the driveway and down the street to their respective cars. As they passed a silver BMW, Kate snickered. "Told you the little slut was somewhere in the house."

Gordo's car was first, a blue Grand Am. His parents had wanted to buy him a car but he had wanted to buy his own, so they compromised and each paid half.

Kate turned him around and wrapping her arms around his neck, gave him another deep kiss. Pulling back, she gave him a seductive smile. "Come over to my house later this afternoon. My mom is still on her so-called honeymoon and I have the whole house to myself." After giving him a quick kiss, "I can make up for this morning and nothing will interrupt us."

Gordo gave her a smile that looked like a little boy on Christmas ready to unwrap his gifts. "I'll call you this afternoon," he told her as they let go of each other. Unlocking the door and getting in his car, he lowered the window as he started the engine. "See you later," he said before driving off.

Kate was on cloud nine. For the first time, she had a boy who was not just interested in her body. She was sure that was one of the reasons but not the only one. When they were eating lunch at the Fisherman's Wharf he had told her, _"Physical beauty is what attracts you to someone but its inner beauty that keeps you there."_

Smiling, she turned around and started to head towards her car. Just as she turned around, the smile faded. Brooke was standing a few feet away and had seen everything. "Brooke?" Kate asked as she walked up to her friend. "Uh…how much of that did you see"?

Keeping her face emotionless, "Enough." Then arching an eyebrow, "You and Gordo?"

"I can explain," she started but Brooke cut her off.

A small grin appeared on Brooke's face. "You happy?"

"Aside from having to keep it a secret, yes, I'm very happy."

Brooke then shrugged, "Then I'm happy for you. You're forgetting, I dated him too."

Kate let out a breath of relief and slowly relaxed. "Please, you can't tell anyone."

"I promise."

Kate and Brooke walked down the street towards Kate car. They decided to go out to breakfast and trade stories about Gordo.


	13. Things Start To Unravel

A/N – _"Thoughts"_

Chapter 13 – Things Start To Unravel

It had been two weeks since the party and so far, with the exception of Brooke, they had been able to keep their relationship a secret. On the outside, everything was normal. Gordo worked on his movies and hung out with his friends. Kate did cheerleading and continued to battle with Gretchen. When they did hang out together, it was usually late afternoon, after Kate's practices. But the longer the secret went on, the harder it was to create plausible excuses to explain where they had been.

Late Thursday afternoon, Gordo pulled into the Saunders' driveway. After shutting off his car, he got out and walked to the door. Knocking, he tapped his foot on the porch as he waited for Kate to answer.

As the door opened, he came face to face with a scowling Kate. Realizing who was standing in front of her, Kate relaxed. "Hey."

"This is for you," he said with a lopsided grin as he handed her a few violets. "You ok?" he asked as she stepped aside and he walked in.

Tossing the door shut, "Just the usual crap with Gretchen." She smiled a little as she looked at the flowers in her hand and inhaled their scent. "But I'm feeling much better now that you here."

"Your mom around?" Gordo asked as he stood a few feet away from her.

"No," Kate said with a slight edge. "Her and her new husband are at work."

Gordo watched as Kate walked a few steps away from the door, then grimaced and grabbed her thigh. Noticing Gordo's concerned expression, "I'm ok, I just over did it at practice. Gretchen tried to show me up."

Taking another step, Kate grimaced again. "You're not ok. Come here," Gordo said walking over to her.

"Gordo, I'm fine. Whoa!" As she tried to protest, Gordo scooped her up and cradled her in his arms. _"Wow. He's stronger than I thought."_

Gordo carried her into the living room and put her down on the couch. Kneeling next to the couch, "Your thigh just sore?"

"Yea. I pushed it too far." She then felt Gordo's hands slip under the leg of her shorts and gently start to rub her thigh.

Feeling her tense up under his touch, he smirked. "Get your mind out of the gutter, I'm not doing that." As she smiled embarrassedly, Gordo looked down at her leg. "At least not yet," he added sarcastically. Kate laughed and reached out to swat Gordo's shoulder. After laughing at each other for a few minutes, they fell into a comfortable silence.

At the same time, Miranda and Lizzie were walking to the Gordon's. They were going to see if Gordo wanted to go out to Burger Buddy for dinner and hang out afterwards.

After ringing the doorbell, Miranda turned to Lizzie. "Have you noticed how much more relaxed Gordo's been since he got back from San Francisco?"

"Yea," Lizzie answered with a laugh. "That Kat must be a miracle worker to get Gordo to unwind this much."

The girls turned towards the door when they heard it open. "Hello girls," Mrs. Gordon greeted them.

"Hi Mrs. Gordon," they both responded.

"Is Gordo home?" Lizzie asked.

"Sorry Lizzie, but David is at Katherine's."

"Katherine?" Miranda asked a little confused.

"Yes, they've been spending a lot of time together since they bumped into each other in San Francisco."

Lizzie titled her head slightly, "You mean Kat?"

"Yes."

"Gordo didn't mention she was visiting him," Miranda said out loud.

Mrs. Gordon looked at them confused this time. "Visiting? She lives in Hill Ridge."

Miranda and Lizzie wore identical confused expressions.

"You two have known Katherine just as long as David has," Mrs. Gordon said to them, herself a little confused that they weren't understanding her.

Lizzie opened her mouth to say something but her mouth just hung there as something suddenly came to her. She felt like an idiot for not realizing it before.

"How would we know Kat, we've never met her," Miranda told Mrs. Gordon.

Before Mrs. Gordon could answer, Lizzie beat her to it. "Yes we have," she said turning to Miranda. Miranda looked at her surprised. "Think, what's another nickname for Katherine."

Miranda rolled her eyes and thought about it. "Katherine….Kat….Ka," Miranda's eyes went wide with realization and she was quiet for a few moments as she let it sink in. "Nah," she said with a sarcastic smile.

"Known her just as long and named Katherine. Who else could it be?" Lizzie told Miranda. "Mrs. Gordon, is David at Kate Sanders'?"

"Yes," she answered looking at the girls like they should know this. Mrs. Gordon had just assumed that David would have told his best friends about Kate and him.

"Thanks Mrs. Gordon. Can you tell Gordo we stopped by?" Lizzie asked.

"Sure girls."

"Thanks." After saying goodbye to Mrs. Gordon, Lizzie and Miranda walked away trying to wrap their minds around the fact that Kat was Kate and much bigger, they appeared to still be together.

A couple of hours later, Kate and Gordo were standing on the Sanders' front porch, kissing. After a few minutes, they broke apart and Kate frowned. "I wish you were staying and my mom and her new fling were leaving."

Gordo smiled and gently brushed her cheek. "You have the worst luck with stepfamily don't you?"

Kate snorted, "Some of them. Julie is alright; a spoiled brat, but I can relate."

Stepping down a few steps and onto the sidewalks, Gordo looked back at her. "We still on for this weekend?"

Kate's face lit up, "Of course. My mom is leaving like noon and we'll have the whole house to ourselves this weekend. Your rents believe we're visiting USC?"

"Yea. Just come by and pick me up when you're ready," he said as he jumped back up to the porch. Stealing a small kiss, Gordo walked back down to the sidewalk and headed for his car.

"Cool. So I'll see you tomorrow. Bye Gordo."

"Bye Kate," he called over his shoulder as he got into his car.

As Kate stood on the porch, watching Gordo get in his car and drive away, neither knew that they had been seen and were being watched for the past few minutes.

Amber Graham, one of Gretchen's drones, had been walking by and saw Kate and Gordo kissing. As she watched Gordo leave, she pulled out her cell phone and speed dialed Gretchen's number. "Hey Gretch, I got some gossip about your favorite person."


	14. So Much For Secrecy

A/N – _"Thoughts"_

Chapter 14 – So Much For Secrecy

Friday morning, as Gordo walked into the cafeteria, he saw Miranda and Lizzie sitting at their table practically glaring at him. Nearing the table, "What?"

"How the hell could you not tell us you're going out with her?" Miranda snapped at him as he sat down across from her.

"Going out with who?" he asked trying to play dumb.

"Damn it Gordo, your mother told us you were with Kate yesterday," Lizzie told him.

"So, I was tutoring her in calc." It was a half-truth; he had gone over there yesterday to help her with her math homework.

"Bullshit Gordo. We know Kat is Kate," Miranda snarled, her voice getting louder. "How can you even be with that snake?"

It was like a flip was switched and suddenly Gordo's eyes blazed with fire as he glared back at Miranda. "Shut up Miranda," he growled at her.

Both girls jumped back a little in surprise at the edge in Gordo's voice. "You have no idea what happened this summer. Kate is not the same person she was back in Junior High. Hell, she's not the same person she was five months ago. So back off," he snarled in a low, angry voice.

Miranda opened her mouth to snap back at him but Lizzie held up her hand to stop the coming fight. Looking at Gordo, with a small amount of hurt in her eyes, "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Cause we didn't want to deal with this," he said, meaning the third degree he was getting from his best friends, "and she asked me to keep it quiet."

"Why?" Lizzie asked.

Letting out a defeated sigh, "She was worried what certain enemies would do if they found out."

"Barbie?" Miranda asked, slowly calming down.

"Yea."

Lizzie leaned in closer to him, "Does anyone else know?"

"Only Brooke, cause she caught us leaving Dana's party a couple of weeks ago."

Suddenly Lizzie's eyes went wide with realization. "That's where you disappeared to. Me and Miranda were looking for you for like an hour before we left. Where were you two?"

Gordo blushed a little, "Master bedroom."

"Eww. I so didn't need that mental picture," Miranda said.

"Miranda," Lizzie said snickering.

"Come on Liz, he's like my brother. For you, it'd be like hearing she was with Matt."

Lizzie shivered a little in disgust. "Point taken."

Gordo rolled his eyes, "We didn't have sex at the party."

"Have you ever…you know?" Miranda asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"Once, our last weekend in San Francisco. We thought it was the end of the relationship."

"Then what happened at the party?" Lizzie asked him a little confused.

"We talked for awhile and decided we didn't want to let it go."

As they were talking, Gretchen, Amber and few of her other cronies came walking into the cafeteria. Finding where Gordo was sitting, she smiled evilly. Gretchen was wearing a black top with a very low v-cut collar, a tight, short white skirt, and sandals.

Sauntering over to Gordo's table, Gretchen slid into the seat next to him, "Hello David," she said sweetly as she looked at him. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kate and Brooke walkup to them.

Miranda glared at Gretchen, "What do you want?"

Barely glancing at Miranda, "I'm talking to David," she told her coldly. "But if you must know, I was going to invite David to be my date to Mark Summer's birthday party," she said giving Gordo a seductive look.

Kate felt the sudden urge to rip Gretchen's head off and it took all of her self control to not act on it. But before she could stop herself, "Why would he want to go with you?" Kate said with a little edge to her voice.

Part of Gretchen's reputation was that anyone who went out with her was assured of at least reaching second base.

Gretchen slowly looked over at her and her smile widened. Kate felt a cold chill and got a sense of danger, she had just let Gretchen set her up. _"She knows something."_

"Well I've heard he was with some girl over the summer," she said with putting an extra emphasis on the world girl. "I figured he want to see what a real woman was like."

Gordo was already feeling uneasy having Gretchen so close to him but now his stomach was starting to churn.

"But I'm glad you're here Kate. You should be able to tell me if David is seeing anyone now?"

Kate tried to hide any emotion, "Why would I know? Its not like we really talk."

Gretchen let out a sarcastic laugh, "Well Amber here says otherwise," she said motioning to the girl who stood nearby. "Just yesterday, she saw the two of you getting really friendly on your porch. In fact, I remember seeing you and Gordo going upstairs at Dana's party and no one seeing either of you leave."

Kate opened her mouth to say something but just as quickly, snapped it shut and her jaw twitched in irritation.

Looking back at Gordo, she started to run a hand along the inside of Gordo's leg. Gordo practically jumped in his seat as soon as he felt her touch him. Grabbing her wrist, he pulled her hand off him.

"Well Kate? You know of any reason why David couldn't go with me to Mark's party?" she said her eyes never leaving Gordo.

Kate was in complete turmoil. Gretchen knew what was going on and she was trying to make Kate admit to it on her terms. She knew Gordo would never have anything to do with Gretchen but watching her hit on him was killing her. Her emotions were starting to overrule her brain. _"Damn bitch!"_

While Gordo was well liked, he wasn't considered cool or a part of the in-crowd. To Gretchen, just the idea of a popular girl being in a serious relationship with a normal guy like Gordo was unconceivable. When Gretchen found out about Gordo and Kate, using this warped view, she intended to hurt Kate. She was going to make Kate choose; either way Gretchen was positive she was going to lose something, lose her popularity or lose Gordo.

Trying to keep herself together, Kate glared at Gretchen. She knew exactly what she was trying to do. "Go to hell," she snarled and spun on her heel and stormed away. Brooke quickly followed Kate, trying to stop her from walking away. As she walked away, Kate could hear Gretchen's cackle laugh.

Standing up, Gretchen leaned in towards Gordo, giving him a good look at her chest. "See you later cutie," she said in an evil purr as she gently traced his chin with her manicured finger.

As Gretchen and her friends walked away, Lizzie and Miranda watched a deep scowl form on Gordo's face.

"I suddenly feel very dirty," Gordo deadpanned.

Miranda stood up, walked around the table and stood by Gordo. "Just give the word Gordo and I'll beat the whore within an inch of her manicured life," she told him as she watched Gretchen walk away.

"No," Gordo said softly. "This is something Kate has to deal with."

"Gordo," Lizzie said softly as she touched his shoulder.

Shrugging off her hand, Gordo stood up. "I'm fine. I know Gretchen knows and is prolly gonna tell everyone. Kate is the one who'll have to decide what she wants now." With that, Gordo walked towards homeroom with his head down.

Lizzie stood up and stood next to her other best friend. "He's hurting," Lizzie said aloud to no one in particular.

Miranda nodded in agreement at her statement. "So what are we going to do?" Miranda asked her as she looked over at Lizzie.

"We can't let him be alone this weekend, at least until him and Kate talk," Lizzie said and Miranda nodded.


	15. A Long Forty Eight Hours

A/N – _"Thoughts"_

Chapter 15 – A Long Forty Eight Hours

It was Saturday morning and Gordo was fighting with his body to stay asleep. The longer he stayed asleep, the longer he didn't have to face the real world. This was the weekend that he was supposed to spend with Kate, together in an empty house for the weekend.

But all that changed after Friday morning. Kate spent the rest of the day in her own world and trying to avoid Gordo. The only time she talked to him was to leave a message on his voicemail saying due to what happened, she needed sometime alone this weekend.

Gordo heard his door open and footsteps. He burrowed deeper under his covers, hoping whoever it was would just leave.

He had thought it was his mom since his father was working today, but knew it wasn't when the person took one of his pillows and slugged him over the head with it.

"Time to wake up Gordo," Miranda's laughing voice called.

"Go away," Gordo mumbled as he put his remaining pillow over his head.

"Not gonna happen kid," she teased. "Your mom's making breakfast for us and then we're going out." Miranda hit him again with the pillow and then pulled the blankets off him. "Damn, you sleep in shorts," she said sarcastically.

Gordo rolled his eyes as he removed the pillow and sat up. "Us?" he asked rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"Who do you think?"

Gordo snickered, "I'll be down in a minute."

"You better be or I'll eat all the sausage."

Smiling a little, he watched her leave before getting out of bed. Changing into a pair of jeans and throwing on a pair of socks, he grabbed a t-shirt and headed for the bathroom.

Ten minutes later, Gordo was sitting in his kitchen, flanked by Lizzie and Miranda, eating French toast and sausage.

"So what do you want to do?" Lizzie asked him as she sipped her orange juice.

"Rollerblading," Miranda mumbled with a piece of french toast in her mouth. Lizzie glared at her. "What?" Miranda asked innocently.

"We're supposed to let Gordo decide what we're going to do," she told her.

"Its alright," Gordo said, "I don't really care."

"Gordo," Lizzie said turning to Gordo.

"Come on," he said gulping his remain coffee. "I'll drive you girls home to grab your blades."

About fifteen minutes later, the three of them were rollerblading through the park. As Miranda sped up a little bit, Lizzie hung back with Gordo.

"You ok?"

Gordo just shrugged as he glided along.

"You're serious about her aren't you," Lizzie said as she glided next to him.

He nodded. "At first, I wasn't too sure about her but it was better than spending the summer alone. Then the more time we spent together, it was like she started letting her guard down, and I found myself having fun with her."

Lizzie stayed silent for a moment and then looked at him. "How did you two hook up?"

"4th of July we were on the rooftop of her dad's apartment building. We were going to watch the fireworks the city was going to shoot over the bay," he told her. "She found out Gretchen was trying to get her off the cheerleading squad and she also found out her mother was getting remarried."

Lizzie winced, "Her mom's getting remarried?"

"Got remarried. Over the summer," Gordo corrected. "I think she just reached her limit and she got upset. She kicked a lawn chair and hurt her ankle." He paused for a moment, unsure if he should continue. Lizzie and him weren't together anymore but he didn't want to throw it in her face. _"But she asked."_

"After she hurt her ankle, she tripped and I caught her. When I caught her, she just kinda fell apart, so I just held her." _"That's enough, I don't want to rub her face in it." __  
_  
"What happened after you caught her?"

Gordo glanced at her, "You sure you wanna know?" he asked and Lizzie nodded. "She asked me about second chances and told me she was going to take one." He paused for a moment, taking a deep breath. "That's when she kissed me."

They both stayed quiet as the bladed for a few minutes. Lizzie reached out and taking Gordo's hand, gave it a squeeze. "I just want you to be happy, and if it's with Kate, than so be it."

Grinning a little, Gordo gave her hand a squeeze back. "Thanks…and I want you to be happy too."

Their little moment was interrupted by a crash. Both looked ahead and saw Miranda lying on her back. She had tried to grind along a curb but tripped and crashed onto her back.

Lizzie rushed forward to check on her but when Gordo saw her sit up and look back at them with a sheepish grin. He just continued gliding towards her.

As he did, Gordo reached into his pocket and fished out his cell phone. He quickly checked his voicemail and sighed a little when it said no new messages. Stuffing it back in his pocket, he bladed over to Miranda and Lizzie.

Saturday night, Gordo was sitting in the McGuire's kitchen playing poker with Lizzie and Miranda. As Lizzie was deciding how many cards to discard, Miranda looked over at Gordo.

She watched him absentmindedly shuffle his cards over and over and every few minutes, he'd glanced quickly at his cell phone laying on the table.

Sighing softly, Miranda looked at the bowl they had used for chips and saw that it was almost empty. "Lizzie, how many cards do you want?" she asked annoyed. Lizzie had been trying to decide for the past five minutes.

"Three," Lizzie said. Miranda rolled her eyes and dealt the three cards. Lizzie laid down her cards, "A pair of jacks."

"Three fives," Miranda said with a grin as she laid her cards down. "Gordo?" Both girls looked over at him and noted the far away look in his eyes. "Gordo!" 

Gordo snapped back to reality when Miranda called his name again. "Uh?" he asked not really sure what they wanted.

"Your cards," Lizzie said.

He noticed their cards down on the table. "Oh. Nothing, king high," Gordo mumbled.

Miranda shook her head slightly, _"I gotta talk to him."_ "Lizzie, you deal next. I'm gonna get some more chips, Gordo can you give me a hand in the kitchen."

"Sure," Gordo said as he got up and Lizzie collected all the cards to shuffle them.

As Miranda grabbed the bag of chips and walked towards the island, "Grab some more soda." Gordo nodded and went to the fridge as she empty some more chips into the bowl. "Gordo."

Gordo put three cans of soda down on the island and looked at her. Miranda closed the bag and turned to him, "Do you really believe that Kate likes you?" she asked him.

"Yea I do," he told her. "I know you have no reason to believe me that she's changed but I really believe that she wants to change and that she really does care about me. I'm just worried that now the safety net of being miles away from everything is gone and the relationship is out in the open, she's not going to want to be together anymore."

Miranda stayed quiet for a moment, looking at him. "Gordo," she said softly, "I may not trust her or understand how you could possibly like her so much, but she'd have to be stupid to give a guy like you up." she told him and gave him a small hug. _"And if Kate hurts him, I'll snap her in two." __  
_  
Sunday afternoon, Gordo was sitting in the Digital Bean and absentmindedly picking at the basket of curly fries in front of him. Miranda had to baby-sit her sister for a few hours and Lizzie had to do some family thing. They both made him promise that he'd come over to the McGuire's later for dinner.

For as much as he appreciate the concern, they were smothering him a little. He couldn't make a move without one of them or both looking over his shoulder. Even though it gave him time to think about Kate, he was enjoying his time alone.

Hearing someone clear the throat in front of him, he slowly looked up and was surprised to see who it was in front of him. "Claire." he said, almost choking on a mouthful of French fry.

"Can I sit down?" she asked as she slowly looked around. Gordo shrugged and Claire sat down opposite him. "Look, I'm not gonna beat around the bush. I don't know what is going on between you and Kate and seriously, I'm not sure I want to know," she said grimacing a little.

Gordo's eyes narrowed, "Is there a point or are you just taking free shots at me?"

Claire rolled her eyes but tried to keep the bitchiness out of her voice. "All I know is that you make Kate happy, happier than I've seen her in a long time." Biting her lip a little, she tried to pick the right words. "Just don't give up on her if she makes the wrong choice. As much as I hate to admit it, you're good for her."

The two of them looked at each other for a few minutes, both unsure what to say. Then Claire smirked a little, "Doesn't mean I'm gonna be nice to you from now on," she told him sarcastically.

Gordo snickered, "Oh, we wouldn't want that now, would we. I don't even think you know how." For a brief moment, they grinned at each other.

As Claire stood up to leave, she took one last look at Gordo. "Just remember what I said. Kate likes you, a lot. Don't give up on her."

Gordo nodded and then watched her leave. _"I defiantly don't give Claire enough credit. She may be a pain in the ass but turns out she's not completely heartless,"_ he thought as he popped another French fry into his mouth.


	16. Final Move

Readers/Reviewers – Thanks for all the reviews. I wasn't expecting this much of a response for this story cause it's a K/G. I'm glad people enjoyed this, it was fun to write.

tormented soul & supergirljen – Thanks for beta and editing this for me.

A/N – _"Thoughts"_

Chapter 16 – Final Move

Monday morning, Lizzie and Miranda met Gordo at his locker. Their efforts to distract him over the weekend didn't really work.

"Hey Gordo," Lizzie said to him as they walked up.

"How you doing?" Miranda asked tentatively.

Gordo just shrugged as he closed his locker and leaned back against it. The girls looked at each other; they were really starting to realize how deep their relationship actually was. To them Gordo actually looked like he was in pain and frustrated that he couldn't do anything. He had to let Kate fight this one on her own.

From down the hall, they heard Gretchen say something and then laugh. Gretchen hadn't wasted any time spreading rumors about Kate and Gordo. When the three of them had heard some of them later in the day on Friday, Miranda once again offered to beat Gretchen into the ground. Gordo, very reluctantly, said no.

Hearing Gretchen laughing was starting to grate on Gordo's nerves. Sighing, he titled his head back against the locker and closed his eyes.

"Gordo?" Lizzie asked softly.

"I don't know. I'm just sick of this secret crap," he said as he opened his eyes. "Maybe she was right, our two worlds don't mix."

"Looks like we'll find out," Miranda said suddenly. As Gordo and Lizzie looked over at her confused, Miranda pointed down the hall. Turning to look, they watched as Kate walked past Gretchen like she wasn't there, heading towards them.

Standing up straight, Gordo couldn't help but smile a little as he looked at what she was wearing. A pair of faded jeans, white sneakers, and a pale blue t-shirt that exposed her stomach a little. It reminded him of the night on the roof of her father's apartment building.

Kate stopped right in front of Gordo and as he was about to say something, she pressed a finger to his lips. Gordo watched as a smile tugged at Kate's lips.

"Well, well, if it isn't the happy couple," Gretchen said from behind Kate.

Kate turned around and backed up, so she was standing next to Gordo. "Don't you have a nose job or dye job you have to go to?" Kate said sarcastically.

Gretchen scowled a little and glared at Kate. "Be careful Sanders. Wouldn't want anyone to think you really like the little dork."

"Screw being popular, I don't care anymore." Kate then took a threatening step towards Gretchen, causing her to backup a step. "And if you ever call Gordo a dork again, you're really gonna need that nose job."

Gretchen let out huff and started to walk away but Kate wasn't done. "Oh Gretchen," Kate called with a fake sweetness. When Gretchen was looking, Kate turned around and grinned at Gordo. Before he could react, Kate had him pinned up against his locker and gave him a long kiss.

Gretchen and her cronies let out a disgusted noise before walking away, but this was oblivious to Kate and Gordo as they looked at each other with identical grins. "Kate?"

Reaching out, Kate gently brushed some of his curls off his forehead. "I did a lot of thinking this weekend and I forced myself to really look at my life. I've been a horrible girlfriend. I put my petty fight with Gretchen before us. Remember when I said popularity is like a drug?"

Gordo nodded, "And you said you didn't think you were strong enough to fight it."

"Yea. But you make me strong enough to fight it." As soon as she said that, Kate closed her eyes and snickered. "Did that sounds as cheesy as I think?"

Gordo grinned and chuckled softly. "A little."

Kate opened her eyes and looked straight into Gordo's, ignoring everything around them. "Well, I realized something about us this weekend." Kate took a deep breath and continued to look into Gordo's eyes. "It wasn't giving up being popular just to be with you, but give you up just to be popular and I can't give you up." Leaning in, this time Kate gave him a short, sweet kiss. "I love you."

Hearing Kate tell Gordo she loves him left Lizzie and Miranda a little stunned. They knew they liked each other but hearing her say she loved him, threw them a little.

Gordo reached out, brushed some hair behind her ear and then gently trailed his fingers down her cheek. Kate shivered a little at his touch. She noticed Gordo's eyes change slightly, almost as if they were asking a question. Suddenly, she knew what they were asking and she gave him a small nod.

Leaning in, Gordo gave her a small kiss and pulling back, "I love you too."

They were then interrupted by a small cough behind them. Kate turned around and noticed Taylor Austin and Samantha Pollard standing there. They were two other cheerleaders and while not exactly friends with Gretchen, they were apart of her group.

"The cheerleaders talked over the weekend and," Taylor started and Kate prepared herself to hear she had been kicked off, "we want you to stay on the squad as captain. Unlike Gretchen, we don't care who you date. Plus you're a lot more fun to be around. We also took a revote and we want you to be solo-captain."

Kate couldn't help but feel surprised and smiled. "Thanks," she said in almost disbelief.

Taylor and Samantha smiled and nodded in agreement. "Great. We'll go tell the rest of the girls and including Gretchen. See ya at practice," Samantha said as they left.

As they left, the bell rang signaling the start of homeroom. Turning to face all three of them, Kate looked at them, "Can you guys be at the Digital Bean at about six this afternoon?"

"Sure, but why?" Lizzie said.

"A pathetic excuse at an apology," Kate said sarcastically. Agreeing to meet, they headed off to their separate homerooms.

Later that afternoon, Kate was standing in front of the Digital Bean with her friends.

"Why are we here?" Claire asked, standing next to her.

"I want us to hang out with Gordo and his friends," Kate told her friends.

Claire and Alix glanced at each other and rolled their eyes.

"Come on. We're just gonna hang out together, it doesn't mean we suddenly all have to be friends," Brooke said coming to the defense of Kate's idea.

"Fine. Lets get this over with," Alix said.

As they walked in, they quickly spotted Gordo sitting with Lizzie, Miranda, Veruca, Ethan, and Larry sitting at one of the tables. Kate led her group over to them; walking behind Gordo, she wrapped her arms around him and leaned in to kiss him on the cheek. "Hey."

"Hey Kat."

Kate smiled at hearing him use her nickname again. "Talk to ya for a sec?"

Gordo nodded to her and then quickly looked back at his friends. "I'll be right back," he said as he got up. Walking with her to the counter, Kate ordered a strawberry smoothie and then turned to Gordo. "So you think they'll get along?" she asked sarcastically as she wrapped her arms around Gordo's waist.

Gordo laughed a little. "I give em about five minutes before Miranda and Claire are at each other's throats." They both laughed.

"How was practice?" Gordo asked.

"Good for the most part. Gretchen had a little temper tantrum when she found out she wasn't captain anymore, then her and some of her drones quit. We lost five girls but I think the rest of the squad is real good."

Gordo nodded and then grinned a little, "How's the leg?"

Kate returned the grin, "A little sore, could use your magic fingers again." As her order came up, Kate reluctantly let go of him and grabbed her drink.

"So what do you want to do for your birthday?" Gordo asked on their way back to the table.

Kate shrugged as she took a sip of her smoothie. "Don't care, as long as it's with you." Then an evil smile passed over Kate's face and she turned to Gordo, "I could make dinner again."

Gordo smiled as he remembered their last weekend together in San Francisco. "Sure," he said smirking at her. Kate thought it was because of what they did after dinner but it was something else. "I say we have Chinese. I hear Great Wall has excellent take out," Gordo told her as he tried his best to keep a straight face.

Kate looked at him confused for a moment but then she realized what he meant. Backhanding his shoulder, Kate laughed. "Jerk."

"How about Friday night, I make you dinner, and it won't be take out," Gordo snickered as Kate hit him again.

"You're lucky I love you," Kate said sarcastically.

Gordo gave her a lopsided grin as they reached their friends. Standing behind them against the wall, Kate watched her friends interact with Gordo's and rolled her eyes. She didn't really care that they probably wouldn't get along but both groups would have to get use to the idea of them dating, whether they liked it or not.

Kate felt Gordo slip in behind her and wrap his arms around her waist. She smiled as a content feeling washed over her. Finishing her drink, she put the empty glass on the table and then leaned back into Gordo.

Kate glanced over her shoulder at Gordo and smiled at him. She was surprised at how much one person could mean to someone. Gordo was her heart, if he hadn't been there this summer, she was sure she'd still be dead inside. That thought caused her to shiver.

Gordo felt her shiver and gave her a questioning glance as he held her tighter. She just looked deep into his eyes and smiled. Turning completely around, she wrapped her arms around his neck, leaned in and kissed him. "I never really thanked you."

Gordo titled his head, "For what?"

"Saving me. Waking up what little was left of my soul and making me happy again."

Gordo smirked, "You're welcome then."

Kate rolled her eyes and smiled, and then turned back around and snuggled deeper into his arms. _"It wasn't giving up being popular just to be with you, but give you up just to be popular and I can't give you up."_


	17. Stumbling

Since I got multiple requests for it, I've created a two chapter epilogue.

A/N – _"Thoughts"_ , Kate is 22 and Gordo is 20 , They are juniors in college and this is set right before Christmas.

Chapter 17 – Stumbling

Kate stared out of the plane window watching the clouds pass by. She was returning from spending a semester studying in La Rochelle; she had had the time of her life but returning scared her cause she wasn't sure what she was returning to.

Before Kate had left, her relationship with Gordo had gotten rocky. They had been dating for almost three years and the times they had spent barely being able to keep their hands off of each other, were replaced by fighting and spending more time apart. The day before she had left, they had gotten into a vicious fight. Gordo had never wanted her to leave for a semester in the first place. Kate said that he was trying to hold her back while he said she was trying to run away from her problems. They ended up breaking up and she went to Europe.

It was a once in a lifetime experience and she enjoyed it, but she couldn't help but noticed that she felt a piece of herself missing.

_"Damn Gordo,"_ she snarled to herself as she turned her attention away from the window. Even after all the fighting and spending almost five months on another continent, she was still in love with him.

_"But does he still love me?"_ she thought as she stared at the phone in the back of the seat in front of her. Gordo was one of the most stubborn people he had met, and it was one of the qualities she loved in him. But now, wanting him back in her life, that same quality scared her.

Sighing softly, Kate leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes. _"Why do I want him back? He was being a selfish jackass. He wanted me to give up a chance of a lifetime just so I can stay in a falling apart relationship."_ Pinching the bridge of her nose, her head started to hurt as she kept thinking in circles. _"The old me wouldn't give a damn about Gordo and would've found some French hottie. Maybe that's the problem; I'm not the old Kate. Damn bastard had to make me grow up and mature,"_ she thought with a sarcastic smile.

Glancing at her watch, _"If its 4:23pm Paris time, seven time zones behind us, so that'd make it…uh…7:23am? Sounds about right."_ Starring at the phone in the back of the seat in front of her, _"Should I call him, tell him I'm coming home? Would he even care?"_

Grabbing her purse from under her seat, she started digging through it, looking for her cell phone. Finally finding it after a few minutes, she turned it on and went into the stored numbers. Immediately she found number one, Gordo's cell number. Before her courage would leave her, she pressed the send button.

"You've reached David Gordon and I'm not available at the moment. Leave your name, number, and a short message."

As soon as it beeped, Kate chickened out and hung up. The actual sound of his voice freaked her. _"Coward."_

After putting her cell phone away, she adjusted the time on her watch from Paris time to West Coast time. "At last check, we're supposed to land in LA at ten." Quickly glancing around the plane, most people we're either asleep or occupied with something. Sighing, she put her chin in her palm and stared out the window, all the time thinking of the curly haired boy that was probably awaiting her.

The next day, Gordo was driving around doing various errands for his parents. While he had been miserable since Kate left, what ticked him off the most was that he felt that it was his fault because he practically chased her away. They had been having problems for a while and her going away for a semester just upset him but he guised it as anger. He found it easier to fight than to actually deal with their problems.

He was upset and angry when she left, but truth was, even with all their problems, he missed her and he wanted her back. _"I blew it. She probably found some French guy and fell in love."_

Gordo was miserable, he hadn't really wanted to come home but he couldn't stay at USC either. Either place reminded him of too many memories of Kate and him as a couple. Running hand through his hair, he turned onto his street and drove towards his house. "At least Hanukah is over and I don't have to put up with my family asking twenty million questions."

As he drove down the street, he tried his best to stop thinking about Kate. _"She's prolly home by now,"_ he thought, _"If she wanted to see me, she would've called, telling me she was coming home."_

_"Just gotta face it Gordo, you fucked it up. You had a great thing and you screwed it up,"_ he thought sadly to himself. _"So I guess that's pretty much the sign I've been waiting for. Its over, I gotta try and move on. No matter how hard it is."_

Pulling up in front of his house and parking on the street, he shut the engine off and slowly got out. He hadn't take more than two steps when he saw a young blonde woman standing in the middle of the driveway just staring at the house and completely oblivious to the outside world.

For a brief moment, he just stared at her. "Kate?" he said finally finding his voice.

The blonde immediately whipped around and looked at him in surprise. "Gor, Gordo," Kate stuttered softly.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, surprised himself that he could even talk coherently to her.

"I…I don't know. I'll leave," she said in a rush and started to walk away.

"No, wait!"

Kate stopped and looked at him over his shoulder.

He'd fidgeted for a moment before saying, "I'm sorry."

Turning around, she titled her head slightly, "Sorry for what?" she asked. Kate wasn't trying to lead him into anything; she genuinely didn't know what he was sorry about.

"For chasing you off," he told her, pain coming out in his voice.

She looked at him with confusion etched on her face as she walked over to him. "Chasing me off? But I left you. I'm the one who should be apologizing."

"But it's my fault. I screwed up our relationship."

Kate closed her eyes and shook her head, "No. I took you for granted."

"Kate, I," he started to say.

"Gordo shut up," she ordered him. Kate then grabbed him and slamming her lips against his, she kissed him hard. Recovering from the shock, Gordo wrapped his arms around her and started to kiss her back. At the moment, the only thing that was going through either of their minds was how good this felt.

Losing track of time, they finally broke the kiss and stared at each other.

"I want you back," Kate said softly as she hugged him tightly. "I know we got a lot of shit to work through but I want you back. I need you back."

"I want try again too." he told her. "You wanna go out to dinner?" Gordo said as he gently brushed some hair out of her face. The past few years, Gordo had gained some inches and was now standing at 5'8". While Kate was still taller, there was a big difference between being two inches shorter rather than four.

"I'd like that," Keeping one arm around him, she released her other arm and looked at her watch, "Its two now, so say six?"

"Why wait so long?"

Kate grinned at him, "Cause at the moment, I can think of something better to do with our time." She then leaned in and they started kissing again.

That night, Kate and Gordo were sitting at a small table in the Cordello's, a small restaurant in Hill Ridge.

During dinner he inquired, "So how was France?" Gordo asked her.

"It was alright."

Gordo snickered, knowing she was lying. "Seriously, how was it?"

Kate looked at him with a smirk, "It was fun. It was almost the time of my life."

"Almost?" he asked before taking a bite of his dinner.

"There was one thing missing," she said before taking a sip of her wine. "You," she said softly. Reaching across the table, she took his hand, "I have spent the last five months damning you for taking away from my trip. But now, I realize that we needed that time apart before we killed each other. It also made me realize how much you mean to me and that we really need to work at our relationship. It means more to me than just the physical stuff." She then smirked at him, "Although, the physical stuff is nice."

"Isn't the guy supposed to be the shallow one?" Gordo teased.

"Hey, I've spent five months with no romance and sleeping by myself. I'm entitled to be shallow for a little while," she shot back with a grin.

"I'm not complaining," he joked. "Seriously, what do you think we need to work on? Outside of the physical stuff."

"I have to realize I'm twenty-two and not five and you need to realize you're twenty and not sixty. We also have to figure out a much better way to deal with our arguments than our usual shouting matches."

"Ok. And we have to accept the fact that we have vastly different interests and that we don't have to do everything together. We also have to trust each other when it comes to hangout with people of the opposite sex whose names aren't Lizzie or Ethan."

"Agreed. We'll figure out the rest as we go." Kate then smiled at him, "Julie's been asking we're you've been. She was so disappointed when you didn't come with me to San Francisco for Thanksgiving."

Gordo smiled back at her, "I missed the little devil child too." They both laughed a little at Kate's old nickname for her stepsister.

"Do you want to come with me up there for New Year's?" she asked him.

"Sounds like fun," he joked. "Can't wait to watch the next installment of Sanders Cold War." While Kate's relationships with her father and stepsister improved, the ones with her mother and stepmother continued to fall apart.

"I'll make it up to you. My mom and her little boy toy are gonna be gone this weekend, we can watch your Lord Of The Rings DVD on my mom's new big screen."

Gordo gave her an evil smile, "Only if you wear those red pleather pants."

Kate smiled back at him, "Deal."

As dinner went on, the flirting between them increased and slowly, the hurt feelings between them started to fade away as they began the long task of rebuilding their relationship.


	18. So Much More Than A Summer Romance

Here it is, the end of the epilogue. It's a little sad seeing this story end, it was one of my favorites to write.

tormented soul – Thanks for the help.

D.Torres and dbzneon – Thanks for all the reviews. You two have been the most constant reviewers for this story and I appreciate it, it's a great motivator to keep going.

A/N – _"Thoughts"_

Chapter 18 – So Much More Than A Summer Romance

Kate laid curled up underneath the covers in a peaceful sleep when the alarm clock's shrill sound tore her out of her dreams. Groaning softly, Kate blindly reached out, trying to find the alarm clock to shut the damn thing off. Finally finding it, she slammed her palm down on the snooze button and curled back up under the covers. She knew she should get up and get ready for work but she was exhausted and was having a hard time leaving the warmth of the bed.

Just as Kate drifted back off to sleep, the alarm went off again. Groaning, she slowly sat up and barely opened her eyes. "I'm up." she mumbled sleepily. Reaching out she angrily switched the alarm off, barely resisting the urge to destroy the evil thing.

As she sat there for a moment, waiting for her body to wake up, she could hear soft laughing from the other side of the bed. "Shut up," she snapped at her boyfriend.

"I'm not the one who took a job where they had to get up before seven," he shot back.

Swinging her feet over the edge of the bed, she struggled to her feet. As she stumbled around the bed to get to the bathroom, "We all can't make our own hours you wanna be Spielberg."

Gordo rolled on his back, "I don't make my own hours, I just took a job where I don't have to get up at an ungodly hour."

After graduating from USC, Kate had gotten a chance to pursue her dream job of writing articles for a fashion magazine. But she had to start out in an entry level position as a researcher. Aside from the hours, it wasn't bad but the job had meant moving to New York City and putting up a major hurdle in front of Gordo's dream of being a director. He had eventually found a job working for a production company. It wasn't exactly what he wanted to do but it brought in a paycheck and Kate got to pursue her dream job. Even though it seemed like it was one way towards Kate, she greatly appreciated the sacrifices he made for her and when the time was right, she'd make sacrifices for him.

About fifteen minutes later, Kate walked back into the bedroom and shook her head at her boyfriend as she started to change into her work clothes. Gordo had moved into the middle of bed and had his face buried in her pillow.

After putting on a tan blouse, a pair of brown slacks, and finishing her makeup, she sat down on the edge of the bed and put on a pair of tan pumps. Turning slightly, she put one hand on the other side of Gordo and leaned down a little, "David," she called softly.

Picking his head up a little, Kate smiled at the sleepy look on his face. "I call you later baby," she said and then gently kissed him. Kate giggled softly as she watched a goofy grin spread across his face and he lick his lips. She then watched Gordo put his head back down on her pillow; shaking her head, she gently stroked his head and after checking Gordo's alarm clock to make sure it was still set, she grabbed her bag and left for work.

Around noon, Gordo had just finished a meeting with his boss and was making his way to his desk. As he walked, James Candor, a coworker, stopped him for a minute, "David, there's a woman waiting for you at your desk."

"Who?"

James shrugged, "She didn't say but she's gotta an amazing pair of legs and the rest of her ain't bad either," he said with a small laugh before walking off.

Gordo rolled his eyes and continued his way to his desk. As he neared it, he smirked a little as he saw who was waiting. The woman was sitting with her feet propped up on his desk and reading a magazine. "They were right, there is a hot blonde waiting for me. Now what can I do for you beautiful?" he said sarcastically.

Kate closed the magazine and tossed it on the desk as she looked at him with an arched eyebrow. "Am I going to have to keep you on a shorter leash?" she shot back. Kate smiled as she looked her boyfriend up and down, _"He looks real good in that black suit. I'm glad I made him get it fitted."_ The adult Gordo wasn't much different than the younger version, except a few inches taller and his body was a little broader.

Gordo snickered and leaned down to kiss her. "What's up?" he asked sitting down on top of his desk.

"Came to see if ya wanna do lunch."

"Sounds good."

Almost ten minutes later, they were sitting in a nearby deli eating sandwiches. Gordo watched in amusement as Kate couldn't wipe the grin off her face.

"So what's put you in such a good mood?" he asked with a smirk. "When you left, you were ready to damn every thing to hell." he joked.

Kate shrugged, "Aside from its Friday, I'm lookin forward to having Julie visit next week. When I talked to her last weekend, she was already making plans for her big brother to take her to the zoo," she said putting a little emphasis on the word brother. Gordo snickered softly and Kate smiled. Julie looked up to Gordo like a big brother and couldn't wait for him to marry her stepsister to make it real.

"I also talked to Brooke this morning. The wedding is set, its gonna be the second weekend in January."

Gordo watched Kate's grin widened and knew she holding something back, "What else?"

Kate started laughing softly, "Brooke told me, when she throws the bouquet, she's gonna aim for me." When Gordo looked up and rolled his eyes, Kate started laughing harder. "Come on Gordo, they mean well."

"Ever since our friends started getting married, everyone wants to know when we are. I love Lizzie and I think she is great as a wedding planner but I swear, if she hints one more time about our wedding, I will kill her."

Lizzie still lived in Hill Ridge and was a wedding planner, and had just gotten engaged herself about a month ago. She, along with Brooke and Kate's mother, were the most vocal about Kate and Gordo getting married.

Rolling her eyes, she said, "We'll technically we have been in a relationship the longest. Its been what, give or take six years."

Looking over at her, he reached out and took her hand. "And we will get married; when its right for us, not everyone else."

Kate pouted a little but when Gordo just grinned at her, she couldn't help but grin back and shake her head at him. What Kate didn't know was that he had been looking at engagement rings for awhile now and was planning to surprise her on her birthday next month, in September.

"Anything else?" Gordo asked before popping a potato chip in his mouth.

Kate took a sip of her ice tea and thought about it for a moment, "We should call your parents this weekend, just to say hi and see what's up. Ethan and Dana are gonna be in New York in a few weeks for some conference Dana is attending, they wanna hook up and have dinner together. Oh, and Claire says hi, I talked to her last night for a little while before you came home yesterday."

Dana Rodriquez was Ethan's college girlfriend and now wife. They had been married for about six months and lived outside Chicago, where Ethan was a youth counselor and Dana was an accountant.

Claire worked for a local news station in Los Angeles as she tried to break into the entertainment industry.

Gordo nodded as he listened to her. "You talk to Miranda lately?" Kate asked him.

He shook his head, "Not since she and Larry left for Mexico to visit her family a week ago."

Miranda and Larry were both teachers, Larry was the new science teacher at Hill Ridge Junior High and Miranda was a social studies teacher at the High School and also coached the girls' soccer team. After years of denying that she was even remotely attracted to him, Larry had finally worn down Miranda's defenses during college. They were the only other couple in their old group of friends who hadn't gotten married or engaged yet.

Kate had lost touch with Alix going into college and Gordo and Larry would occasionally hear from the award-winning scientist Dr. Veruca Snow, who taught at Berkley.

"You gonna be home on time?" Kate asked after taking a bite of her sandwich.

"Should be. Why?"

"I was thinking we could have dinner together?" she said with smirk.

Looking over at her, he arched an eyebrow. "Sounds like fun," Gordo said with a grin.

Kate looked at her watch and groaned a little, "I gotta start heading back. I'll see you tonight," she said and then gave him a kiss before leaving.

With a smirk, he watched her walk away, almost mesmerized by the way her hips gently swayed back and forth. _"Can't wait till tonight."_

Late that afternoon, Gordo walked into their apartment and dropped his bag on a small desk they had in the living room. "Kate, I'm home," he called out. He smiled as he saw the small candlelight dinner spread out on the kitchen table. While Kate had improved her cooking skills, they both had actually, Gordo knew the food was takeout. He knew with Kate's work schedule, she barely had the energy to stay awake some nights. So most nights during the week, he'd either cook or they'd get take out.

"Hi honey," Kate's voice came from the bedroom doorway.

Gordo looked over at his girlfriend. "Damn," he mumbled softly. _"She looks incredible."_

Kate was leaning against the doorframe with her arms crossed over in front of her. She was wearing a tight purple shirt that had a very low v-cut collar, a tight black miniskirt that barely fell to about mid-thigh, and a pair of black, four inch heels that strapped around her ankles.

Mainly because of her job, she usually dressed conservatively and when they went out, she would normally dress casually; t-shirts, jeans, and sneakers. While she would dress up on occasion, she usually saved dressing in revealing things like this for times when they were in private together.

Smirking at him, "Hungry?" she asked.

"You have no idea."

Snickering and rolling her eyes, "I meant for food," she said as she walked to the kitchen table. _"Gordo proves that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach."_

He smirked back at her, "That too," he said as he started for the table.

A few hours later, Kate laid entangled with Gordo underneath the sheets in their bed. They had just made love and she was in complete bliss as she felt Gordo gently kissing her neck. Reaching up, she toyed with his hair.

"Gordo," she said softly. Lifting his head a little, his blue eyes looked into her blue ones. "I have to tell you something."

"Ok," he said as he let go of her and moved a little bit away so he could look at her as she talked. Propping his head up with his hand, "What is it? You can tell me anything."

Kate shifted a little so the blankets covered her up a little bit and slipping her arm under her pillow she rested her head on it. "I went to my doctor a few days, for a physical."

"Yea, I know. How it go?" he asked.

"Good, good," she said trying to make herself smile for him. "Well, they also ran some tests for various things. One of the tests found something."

"Kate?" Gordo asked, starting to get nervous.

Kate smiled softly at him and reached out to stroke his cheek. "Relax. Its good news."

"Good news?"

"They then ran another test and I got the results yesterday," she told him.

Reaching out, he took her hand and squeezed it tightly, "What were the results baby?" Gordo asked scared and nervously.

Kate's smile widened, "I'm pregnant," she told him.

"Pregnant?" Gordo asked in disbelief.

Nodding a little, "Yea." The nervousness about his reaction was evident in her voice, "About four weeks. Our anniversary." July 4th, what they considered the anniversary of when they became a couple; they had had a night much like this one. Evidently, it also produced a baby. "David?"

Rubbing a hand over his face, he wasn't sure what to say. He looked at her and he could almost see his emotions mirrored in her eyes. "I love you. I can't believe we're gonna have a baby," he said grinning and with a small laugh.

Finally relaxing, Kate smiled back at him. "I was so scared about telling you. Uh, Dr. Craysaw wants us to come in for some more tests and she wants to talk to us about a few things."

"Ok. Just tell me when." He couldn't keep the grin off his face as he looked at her, he could also tell that she was tired. "Go to sleep. We've got the whole weekend to celebrate."

Gordo watched as Kate got comfortable and pulled the sheets around her. "You too Gordo," she told him as she looked up at him from her pillow.

Smiling at her, he laid down on his side and snuggled up to her. Gently running a hand across her stomach in a little awe, he kissed her. "I love you Kat. Night," he said softly as he put his head on his pillow.

"Hmm, love you too. Night," Kate said right before she closed her eyes and went to sleep.

Gordo watched her for a few seconds with a small smile, _"Back in junior high, who would've thought that Kate would not only be my girlfriend and future fiancé, but also the mother of my child,"_ he thought amusedly to himself. He laughed softly to himself as he remembered their social studies wedding project back in junior high. When Kate was married to Larry and he was to Lizzie.

It was amazing to him when he thought back on how they got here. What was only supposed to be just hanging out for a few months turned into falling in love.

There was a time when he couldn't stand to be in the same school as her but now, he couldn't stay away from her. There was more than just the physical attraction that had always been there, he was really in love with the person she had become, the person he knew she could always be.

Suddenly her voice broke into his thoughts, "Go to sleep Gordo," Kate ordered, not even opening her eyes.

Snickering softly, Gordo gently kissed her forehead, "Yes dear."

Just as he got comfortable, Kate rolled onto her side and snuggled into Gordo's chest. He smiled softly as her breath tickled his skin. Wrapping his arms around her, he closed his eyes and finally let himself drift off to sleep.


End file.
